Never Say Goodbye
by GuitarHeroLost
Summary: My final shot at an OC story. Smarba's Academy just outside of LA, California, is accepting and now's your chance to get in! Submissions CLOSED!
1. Enrollment

Well, here goes nothing.

I'm not sure how many of you will submit because of my past stories (eternally sorry) but I really hope you do. In case you missed it, I updated my previous story "One More Time" to vent about how sorry I am and how I really want to get back into writing, so I hope you guys are willing to give another chance.

I named this story "Never Say Goodbye" for a few reasons. One, because it's the song I'm listening to right now. Two, because I've never really wanted to say goodbye to fanfiction and I never will. I've realized how important writing is to me. Three, because I feel like that in high school, "Never Say Goodbye" is a good motto to have.

This is going to be the story of a boarding school on the outskirts of Los Angeles, along the beach. Whether you got in from grades, sports, or money, you're in, and you're in for a wild ride. What? Can't the smart, athletic, and rich have fun too? Well, we can, and we can prove it too. Let us take you into our world and show you the drama that ensues here in Smarba's Academy. But be warned; once you enter, there is no turning back…

It's a small school so word spreads fast and everyone knows everyone. The campus is just a campus; the school, cafeterias, gyms, dorms, pools, lounges, etc. The popular hang outs are the beach, of course, the small blues and jazz club, the mall, the movie theater, and the ice cream shop. The city life is different – Los Angeles is full of the crazies, the strip clubs, the celebrities, the radio, and everything you can think of.

I'm going to challenge myself this time. No restrictions on character submissions; I want you to submit as MANY as you want! Of course, not all will be accepted, but I want every character from every corner of your imagination. To spark your imagination, I have a list of character-types that I need!

An aspiring author/writer/journalist/poet

An artist – painting, drawing, fashion

Musicians – singers, band geeks, pop, rock, country, etc

Theater kids

Jocks – soccer, football, basketball, track, etc

Bad – the druggies (including one DEALER), alcoholics, bullies, and people who should probably be in jail, not school, sluts

Brilliant people – math, science, history

Nerdy – Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter fans

Quiet people, animal lovers, etc

Goths, skaters, punks, loners, etc

Cheerleaders, dancers, and preppy people (and of course wannabes)

Law students and Med students

NEW KIDS!

And any combination of the above. I think I'll be submitting two of my own, a football jock, and a technology freak…they're old characters of mine with many changes. I challenge you to do the same. Old characters with changes or new characters all together!

Also, I'll require minors too. Not right away, just whenever you think of someone. These are NOT students – they can be relatives, graduates, or friends, but not students. Unless those students are from the rival school. To be specific, I'll need these minors, or I'll have to provide them myself. (They'll probably show up more than most minors.)

Local police officer

Radio announcer and/or television journalist.

Employee at the ice cream shop

Blues bar owner

Lifeguard

Club workers

Celebrities and management who are from LA, actors, musicians, etc.

Criminal

As I hope you can see, I'm taking this story to heart and I already have plenty of ideas to keep it rolling, but all I need are characters! I hope you choose to submit. I appreciate plot ideas too. Here's your form. Form is same for minors, but you can omit the grade level, classes, etc. I encourage you to use as many RANDOM FACTS as possible!

**Name and Nicknames:**

**Sawyer's Nicknames:**

**Age and Grade Level:**

**How long have they lived here?:**

**Clique:**

**Personality:**

**Nationality:**

**Appearance:**

**Past:**

**Family:**

**Friends:**

**Enemies:**

**Pairings:**

**Likes:**

**Dislikes:**

**Hobbies:**

**Best classes:**

**Worst classes:**

**Teams/Clubs?:**

**Job (optional):**

**Strengths:**

**Weaknesses:**

**Drugs? Drinking? Smoking? Sex?:**

**Favorites:**

**RANDOM FACTS:**

**Plot ideas:**

Well, I hope that's it. I'll PM you with questions if I have any. Character acceptance should be in soon, and I'll continue accepting characters as I write.

ONE LAST NOTE: I don't know how many of y'all have Facebook accounts, but I was thinking about making a group for Lost OC Fanfics. You know, so all us authors and readers have somewhere to gather and maybe post teasers, discuss plot ideas, etc. I'll start it up if enough of you are interested and post the link later.


	2. Acceptance  need Minors and Girls

Updated list. I'm still in need of minors so if creativity strikes then please submit! Thanks.

GIRLS:

*Zolema "Zoey" Rahim – The wild party girl who will do anything because she doesn't feel like she'll last much longer.

Scarlett Luciano – The beautiful and girly cheerleader who is singlehandedly defeating the cheerleader stereotype with her loving attitude and generosity.

*Nicole "Nix" Fuller – The shy and sweet girl who always seems to be smiling and will spend hours on end helping you with clothes.

Alice Williams – The not-so-typical rich and popular girl who may flirt and party more than the necessary daily amount.

*Marissa "Rissa" Kuroki – The daring tomboy who isn't afraid to knock your socks off during your first meeting with her.

.Mary Alastor – The younger sister of Aaron who is quiet and peaceful unless you decide to diss her brother.

.Emma Wilson – The movie star of the campus who doesn't let her fame get to her but inside can be a little insecure.

Micah Hill – The younger sister of Gabe with an over-active imagination and applies that to her art.

.Bethany Collins – the independent girl known for her infamy on the school paper and is scary good at finding stuff out.

.Alessandra "Sandy" Slizewski – The girl who's popular with everyone for different reasons, but mainly because she has an excellent poker face

.*Elizabeth Albertson – the artsy new girl who expresses her emotions in arts and is simply looking for a little love.

.Melody Moore – the half-sister of Nick who is his polar opposite; the only things in her life that matter are herself and drugs.

BOYS:

Dean Luciano – The very carefree twin brother of Scarlett who is a typical jock and ladies' man.

Russell Ardielle – The gifted star of the football team who would rather be invisible when he's not on the field.

.Gunner Sosa – The crazy rich technology freak with a knack for getting in and out of trouble.

.Derek "DJ" Fornell – The determined star of the basketball team who is friendly enough as long as his personal life isn't involved.

.Gabriel "Gabe" Hill – The extremely tall kid who is completely against violence and cliques and is constantly found looking at the sky.

.Dmitri Arsov – the Russian student with a weakness for alcohol who is someone you don't want to cross.

.Aaron Alastor – the badass of the school who is used to getting what he wants and does whatever it takes to get it.

.Hunter "Hunt" Maddox – The rock-and-roll punk who has somehow found the perfect balance between wild and carefree.

.Tyson Grey – the "music is my world" new kid with a shady past and dreams of becoming big in the music business.

Kyle Moore – (minor) the local drug dealer who is scary to begin with but downright terrifying if you make him mad.

Nicolas "Nick" Parker – the cheerful nerd who loves smiles and making friends just about as much as he loves Lord of the Rings.

.Brian Caldwell – the attention-deficit metalhead who can make friends faster than you can blink and can shred a guitar like a maniac.

*Sam "Sammy" Michel – the awkward new kid with obsessive compulsive tendencies and is just as awkward as he looks.

.Reggie Greenberg – the school's notorious matchmaker who can be a little spacey but deceptively intelligent.

.Matthew "Matt" Corbain – the star of the baseball team who is a typical jock except in regards to his sexuality.

I'll try to come back and edit this every once in a while. I made the Facebook group by the way – "Lost OC Submission Story".


	3. All We Needed, Needed Was A Laugh

**Semi-short introduction of characters here. This is before the actual school year starts but, since it's a boarding school, some people have to show up early. If your character isn't in this chapter, then I probably couldn't come up with a reason for them to show up early, or you haven't submitted them yet! (: I think it's the second one. So go ahead…submit!**

**I also made a Facebook group titled "LOST OC Submission Story." It's an open group so go ahead and join if you can (:**

**Creds to MOTLEY CRUE for the chapter title. Lyric from their song KICKSTART MY HEART!**

**Alright, I guess it's gotta be done, right? I don't own Lost, I don't own the characters. I don't own the school, even though it exists only in my imagination. That's pretty sad.**

Just outside of the grey, busy, and crowded area that was Los Angeles, California, and just beside the calm blue of the ocean was a school. A school with lush green grass and scholarly orange bricked buildings. Though this school did not officially begin session for another three days, the campus was already buzzing with life and the anxiety of an approaching new year.

In the northernmost field the football players were doing their morning conditioning, sweating and biting their lips to stop themselves from crying out. The only thing that kept from doing so was the knowledge that conditioning, today, finally, was only for half an hour.

Not too far away, the cheerleaders, clad in their red and white uniforms, were chanting in time, struggling to recall all of their cheers from the year before and all of the new ones while also moving in time with each other. None of them wanted to be the one to face Shannon Rutherford's wrath.

On the easternmost field the soccer players were trying out the goalie's agility and their own talent at shooting from different angles. Meanwhile, the defense was juggling balls back and forth to test their coordination.

Finally, the freshmen and new students were sitting through their first day of orientation with their selected peers. The staff had handpicked one student to partner up with one of the new kids; they picked those who would represent the school with good tastes and who would be willing to reach out a helping hand to those who need their help.

These few glorious days before school began were when it looked its best. Though the school was small to begin with, it looked even smaller with only half of the student body there, hard at work or just chatting.

When the not-so-athletic and the not-so-caring showed up, it would create a very different image indeed.

Now, that wasn't to say that EVERYONE who wasn't at Smarba's early was bad. It also wasn't saying that everyone who was there was good. It's safe to say that everyone there had a good side and a bad side; whether it was a balanced distribution was another story.

But right now, the partying, the dramas, the fights, the drugs, and all else that fell in that category could wait.

Nicolas Parker, of course, wouldn't know a thing about all that kind of stuff. Of course he does, but he isn't as "educated from experience" like many others were. He just chooses to turn a semi-blind eye.

He'd been awkwardly roaming the grounds for about an hour now, stopping occasionally to chat. However, most of the people were hard at work, so they didn't have much time to talk. He would be one of those people but his assigned new student was nowhere to be found.

Nick understood full well that things happened that could make you late. In all honesty, he didn't mind one bit that he was left all alone for this much time. He was more concerned about why Sam Michel was late, and that he would be missing out on a lot of time to learn about his new school.

Nick stood around and observed the soccer and football players for a bit, not understanding how they were so coordinated that they could play a team sport. And Smarba Academy didn't only play sports, they OWNED sports. There were only a few teams in their division that Smarba actually felt threatened by. Knowing this, Nick didn't understand why it was necessary to train so much and so rigorously, but he didn't understand a lot about sports.

He would have stood around and watched the cheerleaders as well but he didn't want them to get the wrong idea. Most of them knew him, though, and knew that Nick wasn't the type to just perv on the cheerleaders. Even though he wasn't "popular", most of them knew him, yes. Everyone pretty much knew everyone at Smarba because it was so small by comparison.

Now he was just left to wandering again. He sighed, figuring he better check in to see if Sam had arrived yet. After asking one of the teachers and learning that Sam still had not arrived, Nick sighed and trudged off to go find something interesting to do.

Nick spotted his friends Claire Littleton and Sun Paik with two unfamiliar girls at a picnic table. He didn't want to interrupt, but it seemed like they were just making small talk anyway. Besides, he might as well start the year off by making new friends, right?

"Hey Claire, hey Sun – Whoa," he stopped in his tracks when all four girls turned his way. At first glance, he thought he was seeing double, but after the initial shock he could see the distinct differences between the girls.

The girl across from Claire was petite and pale with long blonde hair. Her face was more pointed than Claire's, though; her hair wavier and longer, and her style more…unique. His eyes lingered on her sand-dollar earrings.

The girl across from Sun was of Asian descent with medium-length dark hair; however, hers was lighter than Sun's and longer, her face was thinner and her skin tanner. She clearly had some Hawaiian in her as well.

"Hey," his friends chorused at the same time. The other girls awkwardly gave him little nods.  
"You guys look alike," Nick said with a cheeky grin. Sure, now that his eyes had adjusted, they didn't look that alike, but that first moment kind of shocked him.

"And you look like Tom Riddle," Claire said simply. Nick frowned for a moment before his famous smile took over his face once again. With his pale skin and dark hair and eyes, he could see how she can justify that. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"

"Yeah," Nick answered, taking a seat beside Sun. "But this Sam kid isn't here yet. I just heard he's on the way, though."

They nodded in understanding. Sun realized the slightly uncomfortable feeling that had taken over the area and tried to get rid of it with introductions. "Nick, this is Marissa Kuroki," the brunette gave him a nod and a small smile, "And Nicole Fuller," she indicted the blonde, who waved, shyly not meeting his eye.

"Nix," she corrected quietly. "Not Nicole."

"Right, sorry," Sun said apologetically. Nix waved it off and played with her hair absentmindedly.

"You guys been around campus yet?" Nick asked. "I must've circled it three times. The football and soccer coaches are going to think I'm spying for Ravla."

"Rival school, I assume?" Marissa questioned. Nick nodded in confirmation. "Rival because we can't beat them or because they can't beat us?"

"Well…it varies," Sun answered. "They're always close, but we usually win in basketball… lose in soccer… and it's pretty much fifty-fifty in football."

Marissa nodded, clearly interested in this conversation, while Nix looked lost already. In fact, the only one who was obviously interested in sports was Marissa.

"How do the girls do?" she pressed on.

Claire shrugged. "About the same, but obviously we don't have football."

Marissa scowled. "That's dumb, just because we're girls doesn't mean we can't play."  
"You want to play football?" Nick questioned in shock.

"Not really," she admitted. "But I'd do it for fun. I'm more of a volleyball person. I haven't missed tryouts, have I?"

Claire shook her head. "I think there's an informational meeting the first day. Soccer and football only meet early because they have games early in the year."  
"And cross country?"

"Honey, you're asking the wrong people," Nick said with a sad smile. Marissa laughed.

"Is Kate here? I'm sure she'll know," Claire asked Sun, who shrugged.

"Kate's not here," said a newcomer, who looked to be in a very far-off land herself. She pushed her long brown hair over her shoulders as she took a seat beside Marissa. "I like your earrings," she said to Nix, who looked up and smiled fondly. "Where'd you get them?"

"I made them," Nix said softly, blushing slightly.

"No way! That's amazing!" she exclaimed a smile lighting up her freckled face.

"Well, if Kate's not here then cross country hasn't started yet," Nick interrupted. He had nothing against Micah, but she often lost him in her bizarre talk about bizarre things. Nix's sand dollar earrings, and her motives behind making them, were probably one of those things.

"Didn't I see you with a new person earlier, Micah?" Claire inquired of the newcomer. "Where'd she go?"

"Zoey?" Micah responded. "Oh, I don't know. She asked where the bathroom was and I pointed it out and then she never came back. That was 45 minutes ago." Micah did not look too concerned about this.

Marissa sighed softly. These people were nice enough but the things she really wanted to ask about, sports, was completely out of their ballpark. Sun still noticed her sigh, though. "Sorry, Rissa. You were placed in the most non-athletic group of the school."

Marissa shrugged and smiled warmly. "It's no problem. It's not like everyone here is a superstar, anyway."

_Sometimes it seems that way_, Nick thought absentmindedly. _Even if it's not with sports_. He had a sudden realization. "Oh, Marissa," he said. She looked toward him. "There's probably a ton of information in the athletic office."

Marissa grinned broadly. "That's great! But where…?"

"I can take you," Micah said, standing up again. Marissa followed suit. "I should probably try to find Zoey, anyway…"

…

As it turns out, Zoey, or Zolema Rahim, was lounging in the shade of a large tree on one of the fields.

The last thing she wanted was to be at school _early_, but she figured she might as well make a good first impression…aw, she wasn't kidding anybody. She really just came because she had nothing better to do and she figured it was a good time to stake out the grounds. And by "stake out the grounds" she meant stake out the hot guys.

This wasn't too hard. She soon found the football field and a tree just outside of it, watching the guys doing intense obstacle courses and training. After she was able to ditch that space-case Micah she was with, it was smooth sailing.

However, it was too far for her liking and she wasn't able to observe properly. So she stepped out from the shade of the tree into the hot California sun. For the past few days, she'd been overwhelmed by the heat of Los Angeles. Sure, it got hot in London, but it was never this constant and unbearable. Plus, England got rain. The only moisture in the air was from the ocean, which Zoey could not wait to take a swim in.

She stood on the sidelines for a few minutes before she realized that there was a man about thirty feet away who was giving her dirty looks. She was going to tell him to jump in a lake but then realized he was the coach. Smirking to herself, she made her way over.

"Hello, sir," she said in a falsely sweet and innocent tone. The British accent helped.

"Hello," he said sternly. "You new here?"

"Yes," she answered. "And I'm afraid I don't know a thing about American football. Is it wrong for me to be here? I just wanted to learn before going to the actual games…"

The coach's face softened slightly. "No, that's fine." He kept his eyes on the field at all times. Zoey got the impression that he was very professional.

After a few minutes of silence she spoke again. "So, why are they doing all this?" she gestured to the running and other fitness exercises the guys were doing.

"Conditioning," he said. "To warm them up and get them in shape before the season."

Zoey frowned. "Isn't the season starting soon?"

The coach nodded. "We've been conditioning for two and a half weeks now. In about ten minutes, they'll be done, and we'll split them into two teams and have them play each other."

When Zoey said she didn't know much about American football, she wasn't entirely truthful. But even she was slightly surprised at all this preparation. "Guess you take your sports pretty seriously here, then."

The coach laughed at this. "That's - ," he began, but then was distracted. Zoey looked at where he was looking. Two good-looking guys were approaching hurriedly. "Still going to soccer practice before football, eh, Ardielle? Luciano?"

"Yes, sir." They chorused.

The coach sighed. "Well, two laps, you know the drill." They set off at a jog around the field. Meanwhile, the coach blew his whistle. Zoey watched with interest as the team, out of breath, gathered around him and he instructed them.

They broke for lunch and the team scattered about, sitting at random picnic tables and striking up conversation as the two boys who were running finished their laps. "Eat and change," the coach said bitterly to them. "I expected more dedication from two of my best players."

They both looked like they wanted to retort but were either too smart or too tired to do so. They scrambled to the water table as the coach walked off. Zoey approached them, losing her façade of innocence. "What was that all about? Cheerleading practice getting in the way of football?"

They froze and looked at her in confusion, trying to recognize her. One of them was about her height, 6'3" or 6'2", with somewhat dark brown hair that fell around his ears and bright blue eyes. The other was, though at about 5'11", clearly the runt of the football team, with grey eyes and light brown hair. It was the latter who spoke first. "Who the hell are you?" he snarled. His companion elbowed him.

Zoey was taken aback by the attitude, but matched it with one of her own. "I might ask the same. Lemme guess, second-string pipsqueak?"

She was given the cold shoulder. The taller one looked apologetic. "Sorry about him…I'm Dean, Dean Luciano." He stuck out his hand and offered a charming smile that enhanced his handsome features.

"Did I ask you?" Zoey asked bluntly, but with a slightly suggestive smile as well.

Dean laughed, as if she was joking. "You must be new here, I haven't seen you around before."

"Deano, let's go," the other one looked anxious to get away.

"And this is your boyfriend?" Zoey asked in a fake friendly voice.

"This is Russ," Dean introduced. He walked away. "Russ, where are you going?" He didn't turn around. Dean looked back at Zoey. "I don't why he gets like that…" Dean, too, began to walk off, motioning Zoey to follow. He took his lunch and sat beside two other guys.

A blonde kid spoke up. In a smooth, Southern drawl, he said, "Who's your friend, Lucky?"

"Zoey," she stated, finally introducing herself to the group of guys. The other two were called Sawyer and Sayid.

As the football players ate, Zoey awkwardly got out her lighter and flicked it on and off, watching the flame spark to life and then die at her touch. Sawyer watched with interest. "Here," he said finally. She tossed it to him. He lit a cigarette and took a drag on it.

"Sawyer, dude, DON'T do that here," Dean demanded.

"Really, it's bad for you," Zoey ripped it out of his hands and put it in her own mouth. Sawyer laughed, but Dean scowled.

"I do not approve," he said.

Zoey gave an uncaring shrug. "I get that a lot." Nevertheless, she tossed it on the ground and stepped on it for Dean's sake. He rolled his eyes.

"We should hit the locker rooms," he said a few minutes later, standing up. Sawyer and Sayid joined him. "Catch ya later, Zoey."

"Yeah, if you're lucky," she said arrogantly as she watched them walk off. Soon enough, she felt another presence beside her.

"There you are!" Micah said cheerfully. "So, you're a football fan too, then?"

Zoey didn't even look at her, just inwardly kicked herself for being found. "Yeah."

…

Sam Michel was late, and he knew it. Normally he hated being late. And early. He hated both. He had to be just on time, exactly when he was instructed to be there. But this time it was important, because he had to make sure his suitcases were packed neatly and he had everything he needed. Then, of course, when he loaded the car, he had to position them so the ride was not likely to mess up the contents. Finally, he had to wait for his mother to drive him, because he never learned to drive.

When Sam finally unloaded his gangly body and bags from the car, he was well over an hour late to orientation at Smarba Academy. He had long since made a mental note to apologize to whoever his guide was.

However, he was told that his guide had wandered off, hopefully to return soon. Sam was a little impatient, though, and decided to set off on his own. He dragged his bags carefully behind him, looking for building D where his dorm was.

Sam spotted a building that looked like a residence hall and made his way toward it. He saw that it wasn't the one he was looking for and sighed. Some chatter and laughter drifted his way and he turned to see two beautiful girls clad in matching uniforms making their way toward the building he was standing outside of.

Sam was never the best at being social but it was a new school, new life, right? Besides, asking for directions wasn't socializing… it would just be a question. "Excuse me," he said. Their conversation stopped abruptly. "Could you point me in the direction of building D…?"

"Sure!" they both said simultaneously. The redhead spoke first. "Just keep heading North, it should be on the left," she told him, pointing.

"It'll look like this one," her blonde companion said, nodding toward the one they were standing by. "If you're new, someone should have been helping you…" she frowned.

"Yeah, I, um," he began. "I was a little late so I don't know where he is."

"Who?"

"Nicolas Parker?" he said, not sure if he remembered the name correctly.

"Oh, he's probably with Claire and Sun still," the redhead said.

With those words, the blonde whipped out her phone and began texting wildly. "I'm Alice Williams, by the way," the redheaded girl said.

"Scarlett Luciano," the blonde said. "We can walk you to the building, if you want."

"No, that's not necessary," he muttered, seriously wishing he could just get away now. But, he might as well wait to find out where this Nicolas kid was. "I'm Sam Michel."

"Nice to meet you," they both said simultaneously. Scarlett spoke again as her phone vibrated. "Claire says they're in the boys' lounge. So they'll be in building D," she explained. "Third floor. Nick will meet you there and he says sorry."

"Thanks," Sam said awkwardly, turning around while silently grateful that he was getting away from this conversation.

"See you later, Sam!" they both shouted after him.

"Yeah, see you," he said quietly, so quietly that he was sure neither of them heard. He shook his head, hoping that this Nick, this Claire, and whoever else they were with weren't too popular; it put Sam on edge.

With Alice and Scarlett's help he found the building no problem. He was very tempted to just chill in his dorm room all night and for the next few days before school started. But he didn't want a reputation as a recluse.

What he really wished was that he could find Miles, his one friend, his neighbor, who was actually somewhat popular. Unfortunately, Sam knew that Miles had football practice and that they were very serious about their practice. He was sure that they were still in practice.

When Sam entered room D102, his eyes scanned the room. It looked untouched; he must be the first to enter. It reminded him eerily of a small hotel suite. The room he entered was small but homely; there was a light green sofa facing a small TV, with matching armchairs, and tiny wooden desks for studying. In one corner of the room were a bookshelf, empty, and a full-sized fridge in the other corner.

On the left there were two doors, leading to two identical bedrooms. It was the same on the right. In each bedroom were a one-person cot, a dresser, a mirror, a closet, and a lamp. Each pair of bedrooms was connected with a small bathroom; sink, toilet, and shower.

Sam left his bags in one of the rooms, telling himself that he had a few days to unpack. Knowing that there were people two floors above that were expecting him, he slowly climbed the two flights of stairs.

The lounge was the entire floor. Here, there were two large-screen TVs with the same light green furniture, a few larger desks, a ping pong table, and a pool table. There were a few empty shelves that Sam was sure were filled with games and books and movies during the school year. One corner was filled with a complete kitchen; pantry, stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, and freezer. On the couches, a dark haired boy, two blonde girls, and two Asian girls were sitting on the couches. Outside of the group slightly a girl with long brown hair and freckles sat humming happily to herself.

"Sam?" the boy piped up as he entered. Sam nodded nervously. "Have a seat, bud. Unless you have somewhere to go." Sam sat.

"Where you from, Sam?" one of the girls asked cheerfully.

"Well…" he wasn't sure how to answer the question. There is nowhere he wanted to call home because he moved around so much. "I moved here from Winnipeg, Canada…"

"Wow," Nick exclaimed, hitting himself in the forehead with a cushion. "You can just tell me when I'm being so rude. Sam, I'm Nick Parker, this is Claire Littleton," he pointed to the girl who had spoken, "Nix Fuller, Marissa Kuroki, Sun Kwon, and Micah Hill." The humming girl turned at her name, looking quite surprised to see all those people sitting there.

"Nice to meet you," he said, not as awkwardly as he had been with the other girls. He felt as if this was a much more lighthearted environment. He was absentmindedly straightening out the cushions on his chair.

"I hear you met Alice and Scarlett," Nick said. Sam nodded. "Lucky you. Out of all the people you could have asked, you asked the two popular girls who would actually point you in the right direction."

"Oh, well, that's just so reassuring," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Claire frowned. "Oh, Nick, no one at this school is that bad."

"Yeah, coming from Miss Popular herself," Nick retorted.

"Okay, I'll humor you," she said with a coy smile. "Who is here early who would give false directions to an innocent new kid like Sam?" Sam was interested. Micah had gone back to her humming and Nix and Sun, too, were looking on with interest. Even Marissa peered over the top of her copy of Sports Illustrated.

"Let's see, Shannon Rutherford," Nick said without hesitation.

"He's got you there, Claire," Sun said.

"Russell Ardielle…" Nick went on.

"Russ would not!" Claire exclaimed. She was ignored.

"Zoey Rahim," Micah piped up. They turned to her with confused expressions. "She did not have very nice things to me once I found her today. I don't think she would be very friendly toward new students."

"Duly noted," Nick said dully. "Just what we need, another bitch on campus…"

"Nick!" Claire said sternly.

"Oh, Claire, don't act like he doesn't have justification for what he says," Micah said defensively.

"Well, you're acting like it's the whole school, most of us get along just fine…"

Sam caught the eye of Nix and for some strange reason both of them burst into laughter. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into, and apparently, neither did the people who were already here.

The others did not understand what was so funny but they smiled as well. "Take Marissa for example," Claire said with a smile. "You're like, a female jock. But you're here with us and we have no problems."

"No, I actually hate all of you, I just didn't want to say anything," she said calmly, flipping the page of her magazine. The laughter died and they stared at her. Feeling their gazes, she looked up again and said, "Kidding."

The laughter arose again. "Anyway, the jocks aren't the bad ones," Nick said. "They're just, you know, jocks. They're kicking something or throwing something and they're happy. Right, Marissa?" She grinned.

"You just mentioned Russ, though," Micah mentioned.

"There's an exception to every rule…" Nick countered.

"Guys, shh," Claire whispered as the door to the lounge opened. In walked none other than the very jocks they were just discussing; Sawyer, Dean, Russ, Sayid, and, oddly enough, Zoey.

"Well, now, who do we have here?" Sawyer said charmingly, squeezing in next to Marissa. "Where you from, gorgeous?"

"Hawaii," she said blankly.

"Hawaii?" he questioned. She nodded. "How exotic. Why don't you do a hula dance for us, then?"

She shot him a glare that no one expected. "I don't hula dance."

"Sure you do!" he said with a smile. "C'mon, don't be shy, we don't b-,"

Marissa wouldn't have done it if he had just asked. But he just had to keep pressing on, and have his arm around her, with that _obnoxious_ Southern accent, and so she punched him. In the face. Hard.

For a few long moments the entire lounge was quiet. But then, simultaneously, every person in there cracked up in laughter. Russ and Dean even high-fived. After a few more seconds, Sawyer joined in the laughter.

"You got guts, girl," he said through his laughter.

"Who are you? I think I love you," Dean grinned.

Marissa grinned too. "Marissa Kuroki," she introduced.

Dean, Russ, and Zoey took their seats too. "Dean Luciano," he extended his hand for her to shake.

"Pleasure," she said.

"Hey, do you know where Gabe is?" Micah inquired, tilting her head to the side slightly. If football practice was over, and Dean and Russ were here, then that had to mean soccer was over as well.

"Who cares?" Russ said instinctively.

Micah frowned at him. "Well, I do, seeing as I just asked."  
"Well, I don't, seeing as I just said so," he replied. "Besides, it was a joke, sweetheart. I don't know."

The others offered shrugs in indicate that they didn't know either, and also apologetic glances for Russ's behavior. Sawyer took the now-awkward silence as another opportunity to hit on girls. He turned his attention to Nix. "What about you? Is there anything about you that I shouldn't say?"

Nix looked surprised at being addressed like this. "Um, I'm not going to hit you…" she said, unsure of how to respond.

Sawyer chuckled. Russ stood up. "Really, Ten? You can't sit still for more than five minutes?"

"No," he said. With one hand he picked up a football that he'd been carrying with him since he entered the room. With the other he pointed to the other side of the room. "Sayid?" Sayid wordlessly got up and walked over.

Russ and Sayid began passing the football back and forth. Nick shared a look with Claire, trying to telepathically tell her that he wanted to get out of here. Claire did not seem to get the message. "Practice go well, Dean?" she asked.

Stretching his feet out on the hockey table and his hands behind his head, he gave a shrug. "As well as every other day," he said. "I'm so _sore_, though." At their confused looks, he told them, "Coach makes Russ and I run because we want to do soccer and football, so we always end up late to football practice."

"That doesn't seem fair," Sam said. They turned to him. "Well, if you were late because you overslept or something, that would be fair, but since you're coming from another sport…"

"Yeah, try explaining that to the coach," Sawyer rolled his eyes.

"So you have to run extra every day?" Zoey asked.

Dean nodded. "Well, it's not that bad, because now we're getting out of most of conditioning. It's just a little extra work. Ten!" he called. Russ looked over, freezing mid-throw. "You sore?"

Russ shrugged, and tossed the ball back to Sayid. "I'll get over it."

"Apparently not, seeing as you're still up and active," Sawyer muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What do you guys play?" Marissa inquired curiously.

"Sayid and I are receivers," Dean told her. "Russ is QB, and Sawyer is defense."

Marissa nodded and watched Russ and Sayid with interest. Sam did too, but with annoyance. Finally, when Russ leapt over a table to catch the ball, he blurted out, "I don't think you should be doing that in here."

They glared at him. "Beats the other stuff we do in here," Sawyer said finally. Russ, Sayid, and Dean laughed. Nick, Claire, Sun, and Micah looked at each other uneasily.

"Like what?" Zoey asked with a slight smile; now this seemed like the kind of stuff she was interested in.

"Oh, you know, study," Sawyer said innocently.

"Do our homework," Dean added.

"Read," Russ said.

"Okay, now, _really_," Zoey said, knowing they were just playing with her.

"Well, there was the New Years party last year," Sayid mentioned, which brought about roars of laughter.

"And that's my cue to go home," Nick said, standing up. "C'mon, guys," he said desperately to Claire, Micah, Nix, Sam, and Marissa. All stood up except for Marissa, who said she would rather stay.

"Oh, don't be so modest, Nick, it was funny!" Dean said as he was heading out the door.

He turned and said, very seriously, said, "There is _nothing_ funny about drugs."

They door shut to snickers and crashes as Russ leapt over a table again. The others could feel the anger emanating off of Nick, and silently agreed not to question it.

After all, they would find out for themselves soon enough.

**Woohoo! Sorry about all the football talk. It's superbowl Sunday…GO PACK! Anyway, I hope there weren't too many characters this chapter so it's not too confusing. I'm really having fun writing it. Next chapter will probably introduce most of the others, if not all. Submissions are still open, and the Facebook group has been made. So…review?**


	4. Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

**Wow. Can I just say I'm astonished? First of all, I never expected all my readers to be such cheeseheads! Y'all are probably my neighbors and we are none the wiser. SUPERBOWL CHAMPS... Pats got it next year.**

**ANYWAY, I'm also astonished at how amazing you all are. Seriously, your reviews make me smile like nothing else. Please keep up your awesomeness and I will try to do the same!**

**Alright, so hopefully I can fit the remainder of the characters in this chapter. As you can see, I've closed submissions for guys. I still need maybe 2 or 3 more girls. And of course, submissions for minors are open for both genders.**

**Again, go join my Facebook group if you can. I feel lonely. Haha.**

**I don't own anything. ANYTHING.**

It was almost a crime to be stuck in a classroom at 8 o'clock in the morning on such a beautiful day. Scarlett Luciano found herself daydreaming not five minutes into her first class, staring out at the cloudless blue sky and letting the rays of sunlight warm her skin. Well, that's what the teacher got for putting her next to the window.

"James Ford?" the teacher called for attendance, pulling Scarlett's attention away from the window and onto the stunningly attractive guy sitting next to her.

"That would be, 'the artist formerly known as James Ford,'" he corrected her, drawing giggles from his fellow classmates. He, however, was a little annoyed that the teachers didn't know by now that his name was Sawyer.

The teacher gave an amused smile. "Thank you, Prince."

"Bet you think you're funny, don't you, Ford?" Scarlett whispered, her wavy blonde hair falling gracefully over her shoulders as she shot him a teasing smile.

"I'm hurt that you'd even accuse such a thing," he said, giving her a look of such fake innocence that she had to stop herself from laughing aloud.

"Luciano!"

"Oh – here!" she said, growing slightly red in the face. She shot Sawyer a glare for distracting her and gave the class her full attention. However, it didn't seem to help much; after attendance, hardly a word of English was spoken for the rest of class. Her fluency in Italian helped immensely, as the languages were so similar, but she could see the lost expressions on her peers faces.

"Preguntas?" the teacher said after a long lecture, including classroom expectations and a rough outline of the year plan, and assigning homework for the night. Hunter Maddox raised his hand. "Si?"

"Could you repeat that, more slowly?" he asked, which again brought laughter from the class. It had already taken up the good part of the hour anyway.

"En espanol, senor," she corrected.

Hunter looked as if he was struggling for thought for a minute and gave up. "Could-o you-o repeat-o that-o -?"

"The answer is no, and I see that this class will need some work," she interrupted him as the class erupted in roars of laughter.

"Oh, Hunter, you surely will make this class interesting," Scarlett muttered mostly to herself, but Sawyer overheard.

"Don't forget about Curly and Moe," Sawyer added, nodding toward the other side of the class where Hunter's best friends, Brian Caldwell and Reggie Greenberg, sat playing paper tic-tac-toe and clearly not paying any attention at all.

They could hear perfectly, however, when the bell rang and dismissed them to their second hour class. Scarlett and Sawyer caught up with them and Claire as they squeezed out of the door and into the outdoor hallways.

"Where you kiddies headed?" Sawyer asked as Scarlett looked on curiously.

"Gym," they said all at the same time.

"How on earth did the three of you," Scarlett said, pointing to Brian, Hunter, and Reggie, "get put in the same gym class?"

"Must be the hair," Hunter said, dramatically stroking his own long, golden locks.

Scarlett looked for a moment as though she were about to question it, but then changed her mind, shaking her head in disbelief. Sometimes the things they did just went way over her head. She quickly hugged Sawyer goodbye as he left them and headed to his own class.

As they went arrived at the locker rooms, Claire and Scarlett departed briefly to change before meeting up with Hunter, Brian, and Reggie again at the track. "Thank God we have you," Reggie said to them when they arrived. "We've just been analyzing who else is in our class."

Scarlett and Claire did a quick analysis of their own. They spotted Marissa, Russ, Kate, and DJ Fornell in a group. They also saw an unfamiliar guy chilling with Gabe Hill, Mary Alastor, and surprisingly, Melody Moore.

"Ooh, Derek's in our class!" Claire said, smiling and waving. DJ waved back.

Hunter looked at her in shock. "You're still friends with him?"

Claire looked back with the same incredulous look. "Hunt, we've been best friends since we were eight."

He hugged her. "I know, it's been a long time hasn't it?"

She laughed and decided not to tell him what she had really meant. He probably knew anyway and was just being his usual self. She turned to Reggie, Brian, and Scarlett who were in the middle of a conversation throughout this whole thing. "What are we talking about?"

Reggie and Brain both opened their mouths but Scarlett beat them to it. "These pigs are perving on that new girl," she said, pointing to Marissa.  
"Marissa?" Claire questioned as Hunter immediately whirled around to see her.

"Yes! We got a name!" Brian and Reggie high-fived.

"Oh my gosh, guys, let her think there are good guys in this school for five minutes, please," Scarlett said, sighing deeply at her friends. At this time, they were instructed to begin running around the track.

"It's too late, Russ already got to her," Reggie said bitterly as they took off.

"Oh, you're funny," Scarlett rolled her eyes. Snickering, she added, "I think you're just jealous because he gets more girls than you do."

"_Moi_?" he questioned, looking shocked. "Honey, no one gets more girls than I."

Before Scarlett and Claire could roll their eyes again or give a sarcastic comment, Brian pointed into the distance where a crowd was forming. "Looks like trouble," he said. They quickened their paces and Hunter forced a hole in the crowd so they could see.

"Oh, what a surprise, it's Medusa," Reggie rolled his brown eyes, referring to the girl standing in the center who had long black hair with purple streaks, who was staring down the guy across from her. He was much bigger and more fit than her, with dark cornrows and large headphones draped around his neck.

"You ever heard the song 'Hollywood Whore?'" he was saying when they approached.

"Yes, why d – oh, you're funny," she said, dropping her usual smirk for a scowl. "Do you do stand-up? Or are you just a full-time dancing queen?"

"Oh, you know, a little bit of both," he said casually but there was unmistakable venom in his voice.

"You know, I can kind of see how that song fits her…" Hunter whispered to Brian and Reggie, who both snickered and nodded in agreement.

Before the argument could continue any more, a boy stepped in between the two. Both of them immediately backed off, though they knew Gabe Hill was too sweet to be a threat. But there was something about a 6'6" kid standing between you that made you think you needed to back off.

"Fighting already, Melody? Tyson?" he said. Both of them scowled at the ground. "I'm disappointed. Tyson, you shouldn't be getting into fights here, especially on your first day. Melody…you should just…chill. Try reaching a hand out to the new kids, maybe."

"Or a fist," she muttered. Thankfully, Gabe didn't hear her. Instead, Tyson stormed off, and Gabe followed. Melody walked on too. Reggie, Brian, Hunter, Claire, and Scarlett caught up with her.

"What's that about?" Brian asked bravely. They had to give him credit; interrogating a pissed off Melody Moore was not something at the tops of their to-do lists. Luckily, she didn't snap at him.

"He called me a whore!" she cried.

None of the other five replied. Finally, Hunter outdid Brian's bravery. "No, it sounded to me that he just gave you an awesome new theme song."

She glared at him. When she spoke, her voice was calm but also icy. "Have you ever heard 'Hollywood Whore?'"

"Of course," he said, slightly offended that she'd even ask. She knew it was a stupid question. Anything slightly rock-and-roll and Hunter Maddox would know it. "_Cocaine nose and trendy clothes, gotta send her to rehab…_"

"_She found out she's got no soul, but it really doesn't bother her!_" Brian and Reggie shouted along.

"Okay, okay!" she cried. "The point is…"

"It's funny 'cuz it's true?" Reggie suggested. Reggie, however, wasn't as lucky as his friends, and she punched him the gut. "Oww…Melody…what the hell!"

"What the hell is right," she muttered. "I swear, this school gets worse and worse every year. Doesn't it seem like the new kids are just more and more annoying?"

"Well _technically_," Brian began slowly as Melody gave him a warning glare. He, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying antagonizing Melody. "Since you moved away, and then came back this year, wouldn't you be a new kid?"

"You better watch yourself, Caldwell," she warned. He just laughed.

"That reminds me, is Sosa taking newbies out to the city this year?" Reggie asked. Gunner Sosa was the local spoiled rich kid, along with Alice Williams, who liked to treat his fellow students every now and then.

"Probably," Scarlett said. "I think Alice said he said something about the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, and a club…"

"Ooh, excellent," Brian said, rubbing his hands together. "I hope it's the Body Shop."

"Uh, no, I highly doubt it," Melody said skeptically.

"Why not?"

"One, because Gunner isn't a disgusting pig like you," she said.

"Two, because he doesn't want to scare away the new people," Claire added, to which Scarlett nodded fervently.

"The Body Shop wouldn't scare anyone away, I'd think it would actually make them want to stay," Hunter said with a sly smirk. Claire hit his arm.

"No strip clubs," she scolded.

He shrugged. "Whatever. Even the Roxy has dancers, so, you take what you can get, I guess."

"I think I should tell Gunner not to invite them," Scarlett said thoughtfully to Claire, who smiled and nodded in agreement. Melody laughed.

"You're cruel, Luciano, cruel," Brian said, shaking his long brown hair.

…

Meanwhile, Gabe Hill and Mary Alastor interrogated Tyson like Brian, Hunter, and Reggie and interrogated Melody. Tyson moodily put his large headphones over his ears but he still couldn't fully drown out Mary and Gabe.

"I hope you don't let Melody tarnish your opinion of Smarba," Mary was saying softly, nervously playing with her long brown hair. "She's a piece of work, that girl."

Gabe shook his head and sighed. "Out of all the people you could've met, Tyson, Melody is probably the one that you wouldn't get along with. She's just difficult."

"How right was I, though?" Tyson asked.

"Well…" Gabe said nervously. He was too nice to speak badly about anybody, but he knew that Tyson was probably spot-on. He looked at Mary for help. She just shrugged, having no other explanation.

"I guess I'll take that as, yes Tyson, you're absolutely right," Tyson said smugly.

"Let's put it this way," Mary said. "Melody's attitude would be tolerable if it wasn't completely amplified by her drug use. They make her pretty awful to be around."

"Do you know Nick Parker?" Gabe asked. Tyson shook his head. "He's her brother. He's probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet."

"I think he's going out on Friday with Gunner and them," Mary pointed out. "My brother's probably going too. Why don't we go? It'll be a good chance to see Los Angeles like it really is."

"I don't want to see Los Angeles," Tyson said bluntly. "Look, you guys are great. But I don't want to be here."

"Oh, don't be like that," Gabe said cheerfully. "Give it a shot. It may be dirty, druggy, and sleazy but it's home."

"How appealing," Tyson said sarcastically, to which Gabe and Mary laughed. "Alright, fine. I'll give you and this Gunner kid a chance to show me that I'll really enjoy this place."

"It's California," Mary said cheerfully, glad that he had agreed to go. "Everyone enjoys this place."

…

Aaron Alastor was not enjoying himself.

It was 1:30 PM and he hadn't eaten lunch yet. He had the worst luck, to get the latest lunch hour there is. As if it couldn't get any worse, he had to be stuck in history class. He glanced over at his friend Dmitri, who had his head in his hands, dozing off, his green eyes unfocused. Aaron found this odd, because history was probably the one subject that Dmitri actually put somewhat of an effort toward. Late night, he guessed.

At least I can stay awake, Aaron thought to himself. Even if he couldn't pay attention, his hunger probably wouldn't let him sleep. He made a mental note to himself to start bringing snacks, because there was no way he would be able to survive the whole year like this.

_What I wouldn't do for some fish sticks_, he thought randomly to himself. The blues bar in town had the best fish sticks. He wondered vaguely if it would be open today. Then he realized that, of course, it would be open. The first day of the school was when the whole school pretty much showed up, because the teachers went easy on homework.

After what seemed like three eternities, the bell rang, and Aaron rushed out of the classroom. He walked hurriedly toward the nearest food court and Dmitri caught up with him.

"What's the rush, Alastor?" Dmitri asked casually, keeping up with Aaron's fast pace. He pulled out a small bottle from inside his coat pocket and took a drink from it. Aaron snatched it from him. "Hey!"

"Dude, you're already hungover," Aaron said, and when Dmitri opened his mouth to argue, Aaron interrupted him. "No. I can tell. Quit drinking so much dude, you have a problem."

"I do not," Dmitri snarled, taking it back and stowing it back in his pocket.

"And you act like Mad-Eye Moody."

Dmitri smiled. "Yup. It's Polyjuice Potion. Let's go with that."

"You're not fooling anybody," Aaron said, sitting down with a plate of Chinese food, immediately shoveling it into his mouth. "Plus, you smell like alcohol."

"Whatever," Dmitri muttered. At this time, two other people joined their table. There was a guy with layered golden-blonde hair and dark sunglasses, accompanied by a girl wearing a summer dress that had her frizzy blonde hair in a bun.

"Lemme tell you something," the girl said as she took her seat and began devouring her food similar to the way Aaron did. "Seventh hour lunch sucks."

"I'll drink to that," Dmitri said, and that's exactly what he did, while the others nodded in agreement.

"Haven't quit that habit, huh, Dmitri?" the girl questioned, eyeing his drink.

"Haven't quit your gambling habit, Alessandra?" he shot back quickly. She did not answer. "Better watch it, Gunner, Sandy will be asking you for money to hit Vegas next."

"Don't worry, even if I did, I wouldn't lose it," she retorted.

Aaron and Gunner exchanged a look that clearly said that neither of them wanted to get involved. "So, is everyone going to the Tragic Torrent tonight?" Aaron asked, posing his question from earlier regarding the blues club.

Gunner shrugged. "I'd assume so. Who's playing?"

"I don't know, dude, I wasn't even sure it was open," Aaron answered. "Probably the house band. Hey Dmitri, do you know who's playing Tragic Torrent tonight?"

"I'm pretty sure Pepsi is way better than Coke, and anyone who – sorry, what?" Dmitri cut himself off as he heard Aaron speak.

Aaron and Gunner just stared. Finally, Aaron spoke. "Weren't you just arguing about your stupid addictions to alcohol and gambling?"

"Yes."

"Then how did you - ?"

"Nevermind," Gunner interrupted quickly, not sure he even wanted to know the answer. "Look, are you guys going to the club tonight? I haven't heard anything about it."

"Sawyer and the guys are going," Sandy answered. "So that probably means Scarlett's going, which means Alice is going, which means…"

"Okay, we get it, the tradition's still on," Dmitri interrupted. She glared at him. The four of them all tossed out their trash and started walking the grounds, with plenty of time left before the final lesson of the day. They found themselves sitting on the grass with the Pacific Ocean in front of them, watching the very few people out on the beach right now.

"Remember that one time last year when we all went to the beach, at like, one in the morning?" Sandy asked randomly.

"Of course," Aaron replied while the other two nodded.

"And Dmitri pushed Emma Wilson into the ocean?"

The four of them all began laughing but stopped when they heard a voice from behind them – "That was _not_ funny!"

"Aw, honey," Dmitri said, still laughing, as he turned to see Emma Wilson herself standing with her arms crossed and her honey-colored hair blowing in the ocean breeze. But despite the almost-painfully embarrassing memory, she still managed a small smile. "It was hilarious!"

"It would have been, if you didn't ruin my moment with that hot Italian kid!"

"He moved anyway," Aaron pointed out. "He only liked you 'cause you're famous."

She kicked him. "Not true."

"Who's your friend?" Dmitri asked, nodding at the unknown girl beside Emma. He sent a wink in her direction but it went unnoticed, for she was too busy staring embarrassedly at the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Emma said genuinely. "Elizabeth, this is Dmitri, Gunner, Aaron, and Sandy. Guys, this is Elizabeth Albertson. It's her first year here."

Elizabeth decided that since she was part of the conversation that she, unfortunately, had to look up now and offered a nervous smile. She was unsure if this was the crowd she wanted to be thrust into; Emma was nice enough, and Elizabeth recognized her from a commercial she saw, but Dmitri and Aaron gave her a bad feeling. She thought she could smell alcohol off of them.

"Nice to meet you," she managed to say.

"We were just talking about the Tragic Torrent tonight," Aaron said to Emma. "You in?"

She shrugged. "I don't see why not. Elizabeth? Wanna head to a blues club tonight?"

"Oh, I don't know…" she said uncomfortably.

As if she could detect her uneasiness, Emma went into further detail. "It's about a ten minute walk from here. It's not in the city, and it's a very student-friendly place. We go there all the time."

"But if you're more into the city club type thing, then I'm taking people out to Hollywood this Friday after class," Gunner added.

Though the Hollywood club idea did not really appeal to her, Elizabeth was tempted to agree. She hadn't really been into Los Angeles much, even after living there for a couple months, and really wanted to explore the infamous Hollywood. "Sure," she found herself saying, hoping desperately that she wouldn't regret it.

…

In building A, room 104, the first day of classes had ended for Claire Littleton, Nix Fuller, Bethany Collins, and Scarlett Luciano. Being pretty good students with no desire to get behind on homework on the first day, the homework was done, and the night was still young.

"You'll love it," Claire was telling Nix, after going into great detail about the local blues club that they were getting ready to go to. Scarlett and Bethany were nodding their agreement.

Overall, the girls were happy with their room placement. Claire and Scarlett were popular but nice, and perfect to help a shyer girl like Nix around. Bethany was liked enough to get along with them, but she was particularly happy about being in a room with the popular kids. They were always the ones in the thick of the juicy action going on in the school, so she felt her newspaper stories were going to be easy come this year.

"I hope something interesting happens tonight," Bethany thought aloud. The first weeks of school were the hardest to write for because the exciting stuff usually didn't happen yet.

"Not as 'interesting' as last year, hopefully, though," Scarlett said, while this time Claire nodded her agreement.

"What happened last year?" Nix asked curiously.

"Well, our friends Hunter and Brian were just _so_ excited for the start of the school year…" Claire began uneasily, glancing at Scarlett and Bethany for help.

Bethany pulled her wavy blonde hair out of the ponytail as she grinned. "But, being the hard rockers that they are, they were not very pleased with the slow blues that the band was playing."

"That poor band hasn't come back to town since…" Scarlett sighed.

Nix looked as if she was going to ask more, but decided it against it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved in such antics in a new school, on the first day, but she promised herself to give it a try.

…

In building C, room 203, Jack Shepherd, Dean Luciano, DJ Fornell, and Boone Carlyle, too, were getting ready to hit the Tragic Torrent for the night. Getting ready, for them, meant freshening themselves up from whatever practice they had come from. All four of these boys, too, were very popular; they were sporty. And, by the rules of the popularity food chain of high school, that meant they were at the top. So, of course, they were talking about sports.

DJ was envious of their football talk. He was never a football player; sure, he got into the games and was a huge fan, but his heart had always belonged to basketball. Boys basketball was a winter sport and he had to wait longingly for practices to start.

"I think they did it on purpose," Boone was saying.

"It sure is a very strange coincidence…" Jack said.

Dean, who was the last to shower, emerged from his bathroom, drying his hair sloppily. "What's a strange coincidence?" he asked, throwing his towel into a heap on the ground.

"Our first game is against Ravla," Boone explained.

"And also our last," DJ said. Ravla was their enemy in everything. They were the only school in the area who could match them, both academically and athletically. And since they were playing each other for the first and last games, the students were sure to get riled up.

"Oh, right," Dean said, his face falling darkly at the mention of Ravla. However, his tone soon changed to confidence. "They don't stand a chance this year, though."

The other three stared at him in shock. "Are you stupid?" Boone finally asked.

"Wait, are we talking about football?" Dean said.

Jack sighed deeply as DJ and Boone laughed. "Yes, Dean. What else?"

"Well – basketball!" Dean said defensively.

"Basketball schedules haven't come out yet," DJ pointed out. "And also, don't get too cocky. That's what makes your defensive go down and they will have their eyes peeled for that opportunity."

"Okay, okay, no need to go all 'Captain Fornell' on me," Dean said defensively, raising his hands in surrender. "Please, let me have a few weeks of peace before basketball season starts."

DJ laughed. "Alright, alright. But don't tell me Russ is much better."

Dean shrugged. "I just can't deal with two of you at the same time."

…

Things were slightly different in building B, room 108.

Micah Hill was trying desperately to maintain the peace between Zoey Rahim and Ana Lucia Cortez. Two of the biggest hot-headed girls in the school thrown together in one room, well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that was a bad idea. Sandy Slizewski was close to breaking point already.

"You're going to go out in that? Really?" Zoey said in her falsely sweet tone.

Ana Lucia, who was fixing her hair in the mirror after getting dressed, was quick to bite back. "You're going to go out with a face like that? Really?"

"Well, seeing as your face makes mine look better, I'm not too worried," Zoey snapped.

Micah looked at a loss for words. She and Sandy never got along to a great extent but she had a feeling that, if they both had to be stuck with those two, then they'll become a lot closer. Sandy was on a couch with her headphones in her ears and a magazine in her hands, all ready to go. She pointedly turned up the volume.

"Zoey, you remind me of an upside down taco," Micah said finally.

If nothing she had said had worked before, this had. Zoey and Ana both turned to her with questioning expressions on their faces. Even Sandy's music paused and her eyes looked up from the magazine, eyebrows raised. Though she didn't expect anything else from Micah.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Ana said, "Right…well… I'm going to meet Kate. See you there." With that, she exited the dorm.

Zoey was still staring at Micah. "_What_ is _wrong_ with you?"

She laughed. "Oh Zoey, it's not me you have to worry about." Zoey was left momentarily speechless once again, but before she could recover, Micah spoke again. "I have to go, too, and find Gabe. Bye!" She waved cheerfully at both of them before leaving.

"You get used to it after a while," Sandy said finally.

"I think she's a few cards short of a full deck," Zoey said slowly.

Sandy, who had known Micah long enough to know that she was quite out there, didn't comment for a while. "Where you from, Zoey?"

"England," Zoey said, somewhat surprised. People usually never started small talk with her before. They tended to avoid her, actually. "What's it to you?"

Sandy shrugged. "You ever play cards in England?"

"Sometimes, why?"

"My friends and I play all the time, sometimes for fun, but to me, that's no fun," Sandy said. "I thought you might want to come along."  
Zoey actually smiled. "Well, I'll think about it."

Sandy nodded. "I'm heading out too. You coming?" Zoey nodded, and the two head out the door.

…

Building D, room 215 wasn't as bad. Hunter Maddox and Charlie Pace were good friends, but sometimes they argued about ridiculous things. Gunner Sosa was just a fun guy, while Ben Linus was quiet, but he wasn't too hard to get along with.

Both Gunner and Ben, however, were unable to keep up with Hunter and Charlie's rock talk. They were talking about dead rock stars, and the bands they could form in heaven…or Hell. Gunner was into music, but he couldn't follow the other two.

"I'm sorry, but without Kurt Cobain, Heaven's house band is just that much worse," Hunter was saying.

"Cobain's voice is nothing compared to Dio's, though," Charlie argued.

"Cobain could still be a guitarist."

"What about Hendrix?"

"Well, Hendrix is obvious!" Hunter exclaimed. "But Cobain could play rhythm and sing backup to Dio."

"Hey guys?" Gunner found it necessary to interrupt now. "I don't mean any offense by this, but why is this important? At all?"

Hunter and Charlie looked at each other, as if expecting the other to answer. "It just is!" Hunter said finally.

Gunner laughed and said nothing, not wanting to argue with them about something this stupid. Charlie spoke again. "Hey Sosa, you having a birthday party again?"  
"I'm thinking about it, why?"

"I was just going to run it by you," Charlie began slowly. "It was just an idea, that me and the guys were talking about, and thought you might be interested."  
"Get to the point."

"Drive Shaft would be able to play, if you want," Charlie said finally.

Gunner opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. When he finally decided to respond, he said only, "No."

Before Charlie could protest, Hunter cut him off. "You can't blame him, dude. No one wants a piece of crap high school band fucking up and overdosing on stage on their birthday."

While Gunner and Ben burst out laughing, Charlie frowned and immediately denied it. "I would not overdose onstage! I don't have a problem."

"Maybe not yet, but your brother would," Ben pointed out.

"Liam is –"

"Look, Charlie," Gunner said, still not wanting another argument to ensue. He just wanted to get down to the Torrent. "I appreciate it, but if I wanted a band, I would get a real band. You guys aren't going anywhere."

"We'll see about that," Charlie muttered while Hunter told him, "Seriously, Gunner could probably afford like the hottest and most legendary band in all of LA history, like Motley Crue."

"Dude, the biggest LA band is definitely Guns N Roses," Charlie said.

"Well, they're not together anymore, are they? No."  
Gunner and Ben sighed simultaneously as the four of them left the building and headed into town. This was going to be a very long year.

…

Building A, room 101 housed the best of the best, or so they thought. Shannon Rutherford and Alice Williams were the queens of the school; they were popular, beautiful, and cheerleaders, currently getting ready after a long practice. Emma Wilson was modest but she really did know her fame; being a teenage movie star pretty much made you instantly popular. Charlotte Lewis, too, was popular, and arrogant, and someone you did not want to cross.

"Is this too casual?" Shannon was asking the other girls, turning around in the mirror to examine her outfit.

"Shan, it's just the Tragic Torrent," Alice said, in just jeans and a sweater herself. "You don't need to be too dressy. It's when we go out on Friday with Sosa and them that we want to look good."

"I haven't heard anything about that," Shannon complained. "What's going on?"

It was Emma who answered. "He's basically taking the new kids out but all of his friends are going anyway. Hollywood, and then a club when night falls. Roxy, I think."

"Ooh, Alice, we should go shopping for an outfit," Shannon suggested excitedly.

"I'm all for it, but between now and Friday? We're screwed," Alice said. Charlotte was inwardly groaning with all the fashion talk, but she was able to put up with it, as long as they would hurry up and get out to the blues club already.

"Actually, I think that little corner shop down the road might have something good," Emma said thoughtfully. "We could go after we do our homework tomorrow."  
"Or before," Charlotte suggested.

"I don't want to get behind already," Alice said uneasily. "Then it'll be impossible to catch up. Besides, it's not like we'll have a lot anyway."

"Fine," Shannon admitted defeat. "But if that store doesn't have anything good, I'm not going. I refuse to look bad on the first outing of the year, especially in Hollywood."

"Shannon?" Alice said.

"What?"

"You're going."

…

Building D, room 205, was the new home of some of the nicest guys on campus. Gabriel Hill and Hurley Reyes were probably in some sort of rivalry for the sweetest guys the school has ever seen. Tyson Grey, despite his initial fight in his gym class today, was a good kid, very determined and very talented. Daniel Faraday, of course, was the cute nerd who would never hurt a fly.

Tyson, who was not enjoying his status as a new kid, was being convinced by Gabe, Hurley, and Daniel that he should go to the club tonight. They didn't care if they were going to be late by dragging him along,

"C'mon, dude, it'll be a great chance to meet everyone," Hurley was saying.

"I've already met a lot of people," Tyson pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to be up late on the first night. I'm really just not in the mood to be tired tomorrow." This wasn't exactly true, but, as a teenager, he did like his sleep, and lots of it.

"That's not a problem, the manager usually kicks us all out at 11:30 anyway," Gabe told him.

"Why's that?"

Gabe shrugged. "Just so the people over 21 can have some peace, I guess."

"How reassuring," Tyson said, making note that if he decided to go, it would most likely not be very peaceful.

"No one's going to be here," Daniel added. "Even I'm going, and I never go out."

Truth be told, this was a rather endearing thought to Tyson. Being alone would give him some time to, well, be alone. He could dance all he wanted and not be judged; though, he doubted Gabe, Hurley, or Daniel would ever judge him because he's a dancer.

"You have to give it a chance," Gabe now added. "It's a better idea to go tonight than sometime in the middle of the year."

"How can you turn it down, dude?" Hurley said before Tyson could protest again. "Great food, great people, great music…"

This, before anything else, caused Tyson to say what he said. "Fine. Let's go." He didn't let them notice that he was actually looking forward to it as they walked out the door.

…

Room 111 in building B was just as one would expect. Marissa Kuroki was doing exactly what she was doing when we last saw her; talking about sports, with Kate Austen. Mary Alastor and Sun Paik were not able to give much input, but they did when they could.

"Don't you guys have Powder Puff here?" Marissa was asking as she explored the school newspaper's sports section, which was basically talking about all of the sports that were available that year.

Kate, who had had the job of answering Marissa's endless stream of sports questions all day, was not tired of answering. In fact, she seemed kind of happy that she finally had a girl who was as interested in athletics as she was. But to this, Kate had no answer. "What's Powder Puff?"

"It's basically non-competitive girls football," Marissa answered. "It sucks that you don't have it here. We'd have so much fun with it."

"That does sound fun," Kate said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, non-competitive?" Mary asked curiously.

"Well, what we would do," Marissa began. "Is we'd play the other schools and stuff if they had teams but it wasn't for Regionals or State or anything. Just fun."

"I think I'd even be interested in that," Sun admitted.

"Oh yeah," Marissa nodded enthusiastically. "A lot of the girls got into it, even if they usually weren't really into sports. No offense," she added quickly.

Sun waved it off. "None taken. I know what's unknown territory for me."

"It's kinda sad…I'll miss Powder Puff," Marissa said nostalgically.

"Why don't you try getting it started here?" Mary suggested.

"Can I do that?" Marissa asked.

"Sure," Mary shrugged. "A lot of the clubs here are student-formed. So as long as you found a teacher to support you, sign some papers or something, and got enough people interested, which doesn't appear to be a problem, then there really shouldn't be any issues."

"Any issues?" Marissa laughed. "It sounds easier to join the guys team."

"Yeah, except they're all like twice your size," Kate joined in her laughter. "No offense, but they'd crush you. I would even be afraid."

"Yeah, maybe next year," she said thoughtfully.

"Hey, it's almost eight," Mary pointed out. "Shall we get going?"

"Let's," Kate said, and the four girls, too, exited their building, chattering away.

…

Sports seemed to be the hot topic of the night, because in building C, room 118, there was a big discussion going on. Then again, if you could find Russell Ardielle, Sawyer Ford, and Miles Straume talking about anything _besides_ sports, it was a big accomplishment. Aaron Alastor wasn't quite happy to be placed with the King of all things Football Related, but he was semi-friends with Miles and Sawyer. They knew how to have fun.

Speaking of fun, Aaron decided to interrupt the rant about today's practice with a question of his own. "Hey, you guys going to Hollywood with Sosa and his crew?"

"No," Russ answered immediately, but Aaron ignored him. He did not expect any more or less from Russ.

"Of course," Sawyer said, while Miles agreed. He, however, did not choose to ignore Russ, and questioned him. "What's your problem, man? Why don't you ever go out?"

"I'm going out tonight, aren't I?" he argued. "Besides, Red and White is the next day. You guys will be exhausted." Red and White was the school-organized showcase of all of the fall sports. The Varsity (juniors and seniors) played the Junior Varsity (freshmen and sophomores) and the cheerleaders and dancers show off their routines, etc.

"It doesn't start till six," Miles pointed out. "It'll give us plenty of time to sleep in. We won't be tired, Russ, get off our cases."

"Yeah, but when you wake up at two in the afternoon, you'll still be hungover," Russ snapped.

"Russell, oh my God," Aaron said, putting his head in his hands with frustration. "Let loose, please, you sound like a mother."

"No, I sound like a captain of a football team that wants to get State this year," Russ pointed out with an equal amount of frustration.

"Ten, we go to State _every_ year," Miles sighed, using Russ's common nickname of his team number, ten.

"_Get_ state, Straume, we're winning this year," Russ said confidently.

"Playing JV isn't even a real game, who cares how messed up we are?" Sawyer asked, though he already knew that Russ would care. "We crush them every time."

"I wish you guys would take the team seriously," was all Russ could say.

"You guys made the right choice, Friday will be fun," Aaron told Sawyer and Miles as they left toward the Tragic Torrent. "And if you can convince your uptight drill sergeant of a captain, he'd have fun too."

…

Room 206 of building A had an odd assortment of people. Melody Moore was probably the most eccentrically promiscuous girl at Smarba Academy. Juliet Burke was a fun-loving girl but she was also sweet and smart. Libby Smith was the nicest girl, and Elizabeth Albertson was new, quiet, and sweet. Melody recognized these qualities and concluded one thing; that she was corruptible.

"So this is your first time in LA, Albertson?" Melody was saying.

Elizabeth looked as if she'd rather be anywhere but there at that time. But, being too nice to ignore her, she answered, "Well, I've lived here for a few months, but…yeah, I guess."

"Where'd you come from?"

"Nashville."

"Ohh, a country girl, then," Melody said with a devious smirk. Elizabeth was going to correct her; she wasn't exactly from Nashville, that just happened to be where she was before. She moved around a lot so she never really knew what to say when people asked where she was from. "Well, if you ever need a tour guide, I happen to know -."

"Mel," Juliet interrupted at this time. "No one wants to hear about your 'contacts'."

"You don't know that," Melody argued. She turned to Elizabeth. "What say you, Elizabeth? I can't disclose anything without being able to trust you, but I know people who know people and voila! You have coke, You have weed, you have all that you need."

"I like your rhyme," Elizabeth said sarcastically. "I'm not interested."

"Are you being paid to publicly advertise your dealers or something?" Libby asked, clearly annoyed. "I'm thrilled to be rooming with you all but I have to say, I am not okay with that kind of stuff in here."

"Well, you're going to have to get used to it," Melody said, also obviously annoyed as she slammed the door on her way out.

There was an awkward silence. "We should go too," Juliet said softly. "C'mon Elizabeth… not everyone is like her."

Elizabeth nodded like she wasn't worried, but at heart, she hoped to God that Juliet was right about that.

…

Brian Caldwell hauled some final pieces of luggage into room 114 in building C. Having been lazy and distracted last night when he arrived, he merely left it in his car and went to hang out with friends instead. He saw, as he entered, Sayid Jarrah, laying across the couch, Reggie Greenberg flipping through the TV channels, and Dmitri Arsov, drinking, as usual.

"Hey, you plan on sharing that?" Brian said, his eyes on the drink in Dmitri's hand.

"Not really, no," he said, as he drained the last of it, tossing the bottle into the bin.

"I already tried asking," Reggie said, the boredom clear in his voice.

"Well, there's plenty more where that came from," Brian said, pulling his belongings into his room.

"Brian, what _is_ that?" Sayid had to ask, pointing to the jumbled mess in Brian's hand.

"My first guitar, of course," Brian said with a nostalgic grin, proudly looking at his treasured object. It was barely distinguishable as a guitar anymore. There were a few wired strings pulled off at weird angles, the neck was snapped in two, there was a chunk missing from the body, which had several burn marks on it.

Sayid raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. Dmitri, however, did. "Well I don't want to ask how that happened, but if it happens again, make sure it happens quietly," Dmitri said, remembering how Brian had hauled in a normal guitar already.

Brian laughed. "No, I only have one of them with me now. If I broke it, I don't know what I'd do."

"You could always play that one," Reggie suggested sarcastically nodding to the dismantled one that he'd propped up against the wall of his room.

"This is true," Brian said, laughing again.

"Or take one from the Torrent tonight," Dmitri suggested.

"That sounds illegal," Brian replied.

"So? A lot of things are illegal," Reggie shrugged.

After a moment of thought, Brian shrugged too. "Good point!" And with that, they all headed out the door to meet up with Hunter and Charlie and head to the Tragic Torrent.

…

The residents of room 102 in building D were the slowest to get out of their rooms that night, which is surprising, because it did not consist of the laziest or the most antisocial boys on campus. In fact, it consisted of some of the exact opposite. Desmond Hume and Matt Corbain were rather sporty, actually, while Nick Parker and Sam Michel were on the nerdier side. However, they all managed to get along, and they welcomed Sam like a brother.

As Matt had introduced himself, the first thing that came to Sam's mind, he had to blurt out. "Your last name reminds me of Kurt Cobain."

Matt laughed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I never would've pinned you as a Nirvana fan," Desmond then said, looking at Sam curiously.

"I, uh, I'm not," Sam blundered. "I just…who doesn't know Kurt Cobain?"

"Surprisingly, a lot of people," Nick sighed. "It's kind of sad."

"Well, you're from Canada, right? That's close to Seattle," Matt asked.

"Actually, Winnipeg is more central-Canada than Western," Sam corrected, a nasty habit of his. He didn't want to get on the nerves of his new roommates, especially after they had so graciously welcomed him. "And I only lived there for a little bit. I move a lot."

The three others nodded in understanding. "Well, I've never been to Canada," Nick commented. "But I'm sure you'll love Los Angeles. A lot of people think it's a total trash heap but it's not that way….not always."

"Well, it's a lot warmer than many other places," Sam said, enjoying that he's able to wear shorts and a t-shirt even at night. "Besides maybe Spain."

"Wow, I guess you have lived a lot of places," Desmond commented.

"Yeah," he said nervously. "But, even after all that, I've never been to a blues club. Or any kind of club, really."

"Well, this is probably the friendliest club you'll find in the Los Angeles area," Matt told him. "And the quietest."

"That's a relief," Sam said honestly. He pointed to a luminescent sign ahead that said "Tragic Torrent" in bright letters, where a large crowd of students was gathered underneath. "Is this normal?"

"Not really," Nick said, concern in his voice. They quickened their pace. Being the last ones there, they were unable to get up front to see what was happening. Nick tapped on the shoulder of Emma Wilson, who was in front of him. "What's going on?"

Emma turned to him, her hazel eyes heavy with sadness. "The Torrent is going out of business. They have one month."

**Yay…drama! This was still meant to be an introductory chapter, hence the petty conversations within dorms. That was to give you a glimpse into their lives and personalities, I hope it worked. But I couldn't resist adding in that the blues club is in danger…**

**ON THAT NOTE. Next chapter: The students, though sad, still try to enjoy their night out, and then come up with an idea to try and keep it in business. ALSO: I cannot write the next chapter without an owner of the club. Please submit one, with the one condition that he/she has to be very friendly and familiar with the students.**

**Additionally, please join my Facebook group :D. and if you noticed that I mentioned Kurt Cobain twice in this chapter, today is his BIRTHDAY! He would be 44. RIP. And I also mentioned a lot of other musicians - I'm a huge music fan, so that will happen a lot. It helps me to shamelessly advertise my favorite bands. On that note, creds to NIRVANA for the chapter title, from their song SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT!**

**Micah's comment about the upside down taco? Creds to my friend G.B. for actually saying that about a song once.**

**Reviews please!**


	5. I'm Sorry But The Party's Over

**Hey guys!**

**Here's your chapter. I'm disappointed about the lack of minors, but I can't force you guys into it. I went ahead and made my own owner of the bar, but I really need students from the other school. And anyone else! Submissions are OPEN!**

**Also, I was told that the Facebook group is a little hard to find. Here's a link to help you **www (doht) facebook (doht) com/#!sk=group_127029400700585&ap=1

**Enjoy (:**

The feeling of being back in school can be dreadful but for the students of Smarba's Academy, it usually meant it was time to let loose. One last day of summer, please, one last day of the wild parties but with all of your friends from school. And usually, the Tragic Torrent blues club was the place to do that.

Tonight, however, there was a melancholy atmosphere that had fallen on the entire building. The students weren't as loud, the music wasn't as loud, and the hearts much heavier.

Melody Moore decided she couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, turned to Scarlett, Alice, Shannon, Sandy, and Emma, and said, "What the Hell, guys? The Torrent has a month left of being open. Aren't we going to take full advantage of this time?"

Her pep talk seemed to have no effect on the other girls. "It's no use, Mel," Scarlett finally said with a deep sigh. "All of my energy was taken from me at the bad news."

Melody turned to the other girls for backup but found nothing. "She's right," Shannon said.

"I just can't imagine how Smarba's will be after this place is gone," Emma whispered, barely audible over the tunes. "It's like home away from home away from home, isn't it?"

Alice nodded. "When you get totally bored with school you can always look forward to a fun night here. Always fun."

Melody got frustrated with their uncooperative attitudes and strutted over to a table with Gunner, Aaron, and Dmitri instead. "What are you guys doing? Where's the party?"

"I think it went out there," Aaron said, pointing toward the direction of the door. Melody rolled her eyes and was going to say something sarcastic but Gunner spoke first.

"Most likely to a well-known blues club in Hollywood that has no monetary issues that are threatening its existence," he said monotonously.

By now, Melody was feeling so frustrated that she was surprised she didn't smack Gunner across the face just for speaking. Instead, though, she turned to Dmitri. "C'mon, Arsov. Isn't this your cue to whip out the booze and move this night along?"

"Not with the no-fun police on patrol," he said, but he, too, seemed to be irritated at the lack of energy that had struck his classmates. He nodded to the owner of the bar, who was being followed by inquisitive high school students and was politely answering the questions.

"How'd the party get started last year?" Melody frowned, remembering that someone had mentioned the chaos that ensued at this same event the previous year.

All three boys snickered, and Gunner answered, "The oh-so-brilliant Hunter Maddox and Brian Caldwell set off fireworks. In the building."

Even Melody was surprised at this piece of information. "It was not so, Gunner," Aaron corrected. "They shot them out of the window."

"They thought the band needed some pyro to shake things up a bit," Dmitri explained.

Melody chose to pretend that she hadn't even asked. "Whatever. We're going to have fun tonight no matter what the stakes may be." And with that, she turned on her heel and went back to her original table.

"Why do I feel like we should be afraid?" Aaron questioned his friends as they watched her black hair swinging behind her. Neither of the others had an answer for him.

…

When Sam, Desmond, Matt, and Nick finally made their way into the club, they beelined for the owner, Kathy, who was surrounded by their friends, hounding her for answers. The four boys joined the queue, anxious for the wellbeing of their favorite hangout. Sam, however, was examining his surroundings for the first time. The entire place was made of wood which gave it a kind of old-English-pub type feel. It was a very comforting environment.

To his immediate right was the bar, with dark green stools and the wall behind it covered with bottles. It was run by an irritated-looking bartender who kept telling some pushy high school kids that they were not of age and he would not give them alcohol, no matter how much they paid.

On the opposite side of the building was a small stage in the corner by the door, and then many wooden tables that were occupied by the students. It looked to Sam as if they were the only ones here; the locals must have steered clear of the Tragic Torrent because of the first day back at school.

Finally, the crowd before them disappeared and allowed Sam, Desmond, Matt, and Nick were able to step forward and confront the owner. Kathy looked exhausted, her thin blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and a sad smile on her face as she greeted them.

"So, Kath, tell me," Matt cut straight to the chase. "What's the deal here?"

"I can't pay the bills anymore, guys," she admitted. "They gave me a month to try and pay it back, but I know it won't happen."

"But…isn't there anything we can do to help?" Nick said, almost desperately. He racked his brains for any sign of an idea, but came out with nothing.

Kathy shook her head. "No, but thanks. If there was anything that could be done, we've done it already. Trust me."

"There's got to be something," Sam felt like he had to join in. Even if he really didn't have any 'sentimental connection' with the place, he felt he had to.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

"Sam."

"Well, Sam," Kathy said. "I'd be willing to try anything, so let me know if you think of anything." She didn't sound like she meant what she said. She flashed them another sad smile as she walked off.

The dormmates stood awkwardly for a moment before heading off to try to find room at the tables. Sam and Nick made their way toward their group of friends, including Gabe, Micah, Nix, and Claire, while Desmond and Matt strolled over to where the jocks were at, including the new kids Marissa and Zoey.

Looking like she did not want to be there in any way was Emma Wilson. She, however, patiently sat on her stool, amused at Dean's futile attempts to ask her out. He seemed to be amused by her constant refusals as well, but it was more of an irritated amusement.

"So, Saturday night…"

"No."

"So, Sunday night…"

"Please tell me we are not going to start back over at Monday," Emma sighed, feeling as if she had turned down a date for every night of the whole year by now.

"Is that a yes?" Dean questioned with a sly smile.

"Absolutely," she said. As Dean was about to cheer, she added, "Not."

"You are a cruel person," Dean told her as she gave an evil laugh.

"I say we kill him now and put him out of his misery," Sawyer said to the others, who had been listening intently.

"Can I go now?" Emma asked, all too polite to just get up and leave.

"Not until you agree to go out with me," Dean said, tugging on her sleeve to emphasize his point.

"That sounds like kidnap," Russell noted.

"Which is illegal," Matt added.

"It's not illegal if she likes it!" Dean argued, causing the other to burst into laughter. Even Emma emitted a small giggle.

"Well, I think I'm going to go anyway," Emma said once the laughter died down slightly. "Before this conversation gets any more awkward." She got up and left before Dean could protest again.

Matt chose to follow her. As he took an empty seat beside her table she looked surprised that he was there but not annoyed. After all, Matt was probably the only jock or popular guy who could relate to the girls on even a remotely mature level.

"I agree with Sawyer, you know," he said.

"That we should kill Dean?" Emma questioned, eyebrows raised.

Matt laughed. "Not quite. I think that you should go out with him. Put him out of his misery. In a different sense, of course," he added quickly.

Emma held up her hand to silence him. "Hold that thought." He watched as she turned to Alice, Shannon, and Scarlett. "What are they talking about?" she nodded to Melody and Sandy who seemed to be in a deep conversation. Sandy eventually pulled out her phone and started talking quietly.

"I don't want to know, and neither do you," Scarlett answered simply.

Emma was still for a second, as if she was going to ask again, but then shrugged and turned back to Matt. "I just don't think it'll work out," she shrugged as if it didn't really bother her.

Matt expected nothing less from Emma. He knew her enough to know that, even though she fell for guys easily, she was very picky and looked for perfection. She was always paranoid that things wouldn't work. "You never know," he said, smiling.

Scarlett had heard this part of the conversation. "Is my brother still pestering you to go out with him?" she demanded. Emma nodded. She sighed. "He's so pathetic, I'm embarrassed for him…"

"Thanks?" Emma questioned, laughing slightly.

Scarlett looked alarmed. "Wait… I didn't mean that to be offensive," she joined in Emma and Matt's laughter.

Melody and Sandy returned the table. Scarlett, against her better judgment, decided to ask them. "So, what evil deeds do you two have in mind for us tonight?"

Melody put her hand on Scarlett's shoulder in what was supposed to be a consoling way. "Honey, everything we have arranged is for your best interest."

"Why do I find that so hard to believe?" Emma asked through a laugh.

"For the best interest of the party, then," Melody self-corrected, leaning back casually in her chair. She was now satisfied at the way the night was going. Too satisfied.

Alice began to think aloud. "Well, let's see if we can piece this together," she began, glancing between those who had no idea what was in store. Melody and Sandy listened in with amusement. "At your little card gatherings, you always provide the drugs and alcohol," Alice said, pointing to Sandy, who nodded. "You have more habits than you can count on your fingers," she pointed to Melody, who was going to protest, but then shrugged at the last minute. "And both of you are working together. Seems like there's not much room for question, girls," Alice said to Shannon, Scarlett, and Emma. "And… Matt."

"We do it right here in Los Angeles," was all Alessandra had to say. She and Melody high-fived.

"Now that I'm back, I need to get re-connected with all the… connections?" Melody sounded unsure as to how she wanted to finish that sentence.

Emma frowned. "You know, I really don't think Kathy would approve of that going on in her building. And neither do I, as a matter of fact." Scarlett and Matt silently thanked her for speaking up, but knew it was to no avail.

Melody scoffed. "Please. You sound like my roommates. Anyway, it's not like it's anything new to her."

"I can still think of one person who won't be okay with it by any means," Emma said, almost warningly, sending a glance to the table with Gabe, Tyson, Micah, Nick, Claire, and Nix.

Melody followed her gaze. "He's not in charge of me." The tone in her voice was enough to make Emma give up on her argument.

…

Tyson hated to admit it, but he actually was having a good time.

The place kicked into gear with the arrival of a strange man – a couple people ditched because it was getting too crazy, and the owner had given up on trying to control it, and merely left the place in the hands of the wild teenagers.

Tyson was never huge on narcotics, but he was known to have a drink or two. Now, he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the people who were present, but he had enough to loosen up.

The band, luckily, was not as freaked out as the previous year regarding the 'pyro'. In fact, they rather liked that their audience was getting over the top, and that they could get wilder as well.

The tables had all been pushed to the side and now, the floor was a crazed dancefloor of mass chaos. And Tyson was in the middle, with a crowd of cheering people around him as he totally let loose. Some he knew, most he didn't know, but it didn't matter because each and every one of them were impressed at the way he could move, and at the fact that he was making it all up on the spot then and there.

Eventually, they all wanted in on the fun and joined in too. However, even though he didn't have much of an audience, he continued to bust out his dancing like there was no tomorrow.

A girl with long, dark red hair and blue eyes and tan skin was dancing nearby to him. She tried getting his attention. "You dance really well!" She shouted over the music, even though they were standing right next to each other.

"Thanks!" he shouted back, smiling genuinely for one of the first times since arriving in California.

"You new here?" She mouthed, giving up on shouting over the floor-shaking drums. He nodded and she smiled. "I'm Alice Williams."

"Tyson Grey," he said.

She smiled. "I'd shake your hand, but…yeah…" It was pretty safe to say that if anyone stopped moving, then they would instantly be trampled by the hordes of wild dancers.

He laughed. "Some other time, then."

"For sure," she said, again lighting the building with her stunning smile. Tyson could tell she was at about the same level as he was in regards to alcohol; not totally wasted, but not clean living either.

His eyes found another crowd forming. The dancing on his left began to falter, as they watched something else instead. "What's going on?" he found himself asking.

Alice shrugged and she, too, quit dancing and instead hurried over into the growing crowd. Tyson followed. They were about the same height; moderately tall, but it was still a struggle to see over the heads of everyone in front of them.

Alice tapped the shoulder of Russell, who was a good couple inches taller than she was. "What's going on?"

"Nick and Melody," Russ said, and he needn't say more.

However, Tyson still didn't understand. "Exes?" he asked.

Alice shook her head. "Brother and sister," she said. "Total opposites but he's still super protective of her. She's got a big drug problem, and he can't stand it. Plus, she was the one who organized Sandy's dealer to come."

Tyson didn't know who Sandy was, but he knew enough.

Nick looked like he was either going to break down crying, or fly off the handle in some sort of un-Nick-like rage. He also looked very uncomfortable with the growing crowd. It was a family matter, none of their business. "Look, we can talk about this later," he finally muttered, just loud enough to that Melody could hear, and nobody else.

"No, we won't," she said, stubborn as ever and not bothering to keep her voice down. "Don't treat me like a kid. I'm not a kid, you're not my mother."

"I'm the most you've got," Nick scowled, and Melody was surprised at this from him.

"I don't need anyone, especially not you," she countered, fists clenched.

"Look," he said softly, much more gentle than his last comment. He grabbed her shoulders, and she looked away but remained still. "Don't ask me to sit here and watch you kill yourself with this," he held a bag of cocaine in his hands, which was obviously the reason behind the fight.

She attempted to grab it back from him but he was too quick. "Then don't watch," she said, pulling away from his grip and disappearing into the crowd. She left Nick standing there, hurt and dumbfounded.

The crowd began to disperse back onto the dancefloor now that their entertainment had ended, but Gabe, as big as he was, was able to force his way toward Nick and put a consoling arm on his shoulder. "Nick…" he said quietly, sadness in his voice. "I know how you feel…"

"No you don't," he said abruptly, glaring up at Gabe. "Your sister's a saint. She's your best friend."

Gabe didn't seem to have anything to say to this, looking at his sister and Mary for help. The girls glanced at each other and shrugged. But Nick seemed to want to talk, no matter who was listening.

"I knew she had a problem," Nick said. "But I haven't seen her in a while, I've never seen her actually… like this. I guess I was in denial. She's never like this. We're close… we were…"

"The help she needs is beyond you," Mary said consolingly. "There's not much you can do but maintain your close relationship and hope she'll stop… for you."

"She couldn't stop if she wanted to," Nick said bluntly, walking briskly from them all and out the door. Gabe, Micah, and Mary stood for a moment before following. None of them wanted to admit it, but they knew he was right. And this meant only one thing for their group.

Party's over.

…

For many others, however, the night had just begun. Melody was one of them, though she was snappier than she usually would be in the midst of a party. Many had cleared out. Basically, it was a survival of the fittest, or wildest, for the ones who remained.

Zoey and Hunter had formed their own crowd, for they were in the middle of a drinking contest. They had had so much, that every shot they could down without puking or passing out, the crowd cheered wildly. Both of them had begun to sway on their stools, however.

"I gotta admit," Hunter said, his words so slurred that it was hard to decipher what he was saying at all. "You can hold way more than I'd have guessed."

"You gotta admit… defeat," she said, taking another shot to the roars of her new classmates.

Hunter peered at her through his mess of blonde hair. "Do I even know you?"

"I don't think so," Zoey said, as if she was struggling to remember. "Zoey Rahim."

"Hunter Maddox," he said, as he, too, took another drink.

It was well into the early hours of the morning and even the band had ditched. Without the music, some kids got bored and ditched. There were not many left. In fact, many of the remaining people were clearing out.

"Lame," Hunter said as he watched them go. But not long after he said that, Reggie popped out of nowhere, nearly pushing him off of his stool toward the door. "What the Hell, dude?" he said, louder than he intended. He clutched his head and looked dazed for a moment.

"Clearing out," Reggie said. "The police are patrolling the streets… I doubt they know anything but we don't wanna get this place in any more trouble."

Hunter groaned in disappointment and turned to Zoey. "We will finish this another time," he said, getting onto his feet shakily.

"Yeah, if you're lucky," Zoey said, doing the exact same.

…

The teachers acted totally oblivious to the going-ons of the previous night. The exhaustion was written on the kids' faces as they slipped from the classroom and into their dreams. But they were all just awoken as if it was no thing and the teachers carried on with the lesson.

The one person whose weariness could not seem to keep up with him was Reggie Greenberg. The jazz band was practicing in the room furthest in the back of the music hall. Reggie, and the jazz guitarist Brian, were rockers at heart but a lot of jazz technique transferred over into that. Plus, it gave them a good excuse to just _play_ during school, and actually do well in a class.

Brian, however, had a sleepless night and was beginning to feel its effects. Though he was a very talented guitarist, he just could not get it straight. Finally, he just dropped his pick and threw his hands in the air. "Dude, I need a nap. Or like, a shot of adrenaline or something."

"Kickstart my heart!" Reggie exclaimed at this, and started pounding on the drums to the beat of that very same song.

Brian just stared at Reggie as he banged his head and sent his brown hair flying. "You exceed the average energy of a drummer."

"Thanks, I love you too," Reggie said, putting both his sticks in his hands, and pushing his hair out of his face just have it fall back again. They actually tried to pay attention to the teacher for a few minutes, which was hard because they were in the back of the room, and Reggie noticed that Brian had begun to doze off. "You know what you need?"

Brian did not answer. Reggie looked up at the teacher and, when he saw that he wasn't looking, tossed his drumstick at Brian's head. He jerked up, eyes glazed for a moment before coming to focus on Reggie. "Really?" was all he said.

"I said, do you know what you need?" Reggie repeated.

"What?"

"Cocaine!" he said, reaching in his pockets and tossing a small container to Brian. He caught it but did not seem too eager about it.

"Where'd you get this from?" Brian frowned, turning the small tube around in his hands.

"Uh, that dealer that was hanging around the Torrent last night," he answered. "Does it matter? Better than coffee, dude…"

"I don't trust dealers I don't know," Brian said, handing it back to him.

"I recommend not trusting dealers you do know, either," Reggie said, pocketing it again. "Aint nothing gonna wake you up like this, bro."

"Just gotta make it to lunch, where I will drown myself in coffee and sugar," Brian said, catching up with the song, and playing along fine, but his eyes were getting heavy again.

Reggie was going to join in the song as well, before realizing that the stick he threw at Brian still lay on the floor at his feet. "Hey, hand me my stick."

Brian glanced at the floor, then back up at his friend. "No."

"Give it to me!" he said, emerging from behind his drumset and going to pick it up. Brian snatched it first. "Dude."

"Looks like a lady," Brian sang. "That hurt. You've lost your drumstick privileges."

Reggie tried to wrench it out of his hands and soon they had a tug-of-war thing going on, to the complete ignorance of the teacher. After a minute of this going on, Reggie finally won; of course, it was because Brian just let go and Reggie was still pulling, so he ended up hitting himself with it.

"Okay, okay, you got your revenge," he scowled, crawling back behind the set and onto his stool. But it seemed like he had lost his friend once again. "What are you - ?" But he soon found the answer. Brian's attention had gone straight from their small war to the stunning blonde who had just entered the room.

Reggie grinned evilly. "Hey Shannon!" he said very loudly and dragged out every syllable of each word. Brian took his eyes off of her for one second to glare at Reggie. He waved dramatically at her.

"Mr. Greenberg, please," the teacher sighed as he spoke to Shannon about whatever it was that Shannon had walked in about.

"Well, I stand corrected," Reggie said. He spoke to Brian but he knew that his attention was elsewhere. "The best thing to wake a dude up is to see the hotness that is Shannon Rutherford walk into the room. With a body better than cocaine….hey, that could be a song…" Reggie, too, was soon distracted.

Brian only snapped out of it when Shannon left the room. "Did you say something?"

Reggie, who'd been playing an interesting rhythm with only cymbals and bass with a bored look on his face, looked surprised to see he had spoken. "Um, I said, you should definitely ask her out before someone beats you to it," he lied on the spot.

"Definitely…not," Brian said, slightly embarrassed, as he began to play again.

Reggie did too. "I don't see why not," he continued the conversation anyway. "She's hot. I could totally set you up if you -."

"No," Brian stopped him there. He knew Reggie's notoriety for being a matchmaker. It often worked, but in such drastic ways that it was almost painful to witness. He did not want to know how painful it was to actually be a part of said matchmaking. "I don't want a relationship."

"Ohh, I gotcha," Reggie said with a smirk on his face so devilish the Brian hoped he would not disclose what he was thinking. "You want to be single for the clubs on Friday… yeah, I feel ya, but we're not going to strip clubs mate. She can't get you in any trouble for just going along and… observing."

Brian sighed. He should've figured. "I actually forgot about the Hollywood thing."

"How could you forget?" Reggie asked in shock. "City of angels!"

"Not even the world-famous Roxy can top the Tragic Torrent," Brian said. Reggie's smile fell at these words. He knew what Brian was getting at; the Roxy was world famous, but the Torrent felt special, like it was their own.

"TT doesn't have pole dancers, though," he said finally.

"True that. Thank God for the Roxy."

…

It was not just Brian who was feeling the after-effects of all that had gone down in the blues club last night. Even after classes ended, none of the cheerleaders could seem to get their routines down. And since their captain, Shannon, was one of them, she was not yelling at them to get it right, for once.

Finally, after accepting that nothing was going to be accomplished, she gave them all permission to go back to the dorms to do whatever it was they wanted to do. Most of them, however, headed to the lounge, where there was apparently a large gathering of students.

Scarlett and Alice entered a near-full lounge with people from all sorts of cliques. To them, that meant only one thing. It was a gathering of all the students who cared enough about the club to not have it close down.

"So what's the plan, guys?" Scarlett announced her presence. She was popular enough to be able to take charge of everyone; she was also nice enough to represent every clique in the room.

No one seemed to agree on an answer. Finally, Gunner spoke up. "Simple. We all have to have a fundraiser of some sort. The question is what."

Scarlett nodded, thanking him for this to-the-point answer. "Any ideas?" she said almost desperately, her eyes scanning the crowd. Hunter's hand shot up. "Yes?"

"Bikini car wash!" he shouted to a loud cheering section the boys in the room.

"Absolutely not," she said with no second thought. His hand shot up again. Sighing, she once again said, "Yes, Hunter?"

"Nude car wash!"

"Someone hit him, please," Scarlett scowled. Russell punched him in the arm, hard.

"OW! Next time, can you please clarify, 'someone hit him who will not do serious and permanent damage to his forearm?'" Hunter rubbed his arm, pouting. Scarlett ignored him. No one blamed her.

"Anyone have any real ideas?" Scarlett said, glaring at Hunter in advance. This was a good call, for he had already opened his mouth to say that his were real ideas.

Zoey spoke up. "It's useless. They're dead in the water. Just forget it!"

Scarlett glared at her. "Look, I don't know who you are, but if you're not going to give any helpful input, you might as well leave."

"She has a point, though," Melody spoke up too. "We can't do anything to help. I'll miss the place too, but hell, it's a waste of time trying."

"Well, you two can go _waste your time_ doing something else," Alice decided to back up her friend, her voice as fiery as her hair. "Because this is what we're going to _waste our time_ doing."

Scarlett sent her a grateful smile but unfortunately, Alice's comment did not help the matter much at all. In fact, the incessant talking that they had entered to started up again. Scarlett sank back into a chair, feeling defeated.

Nix, who was sitting beside her, was possibly the only one in the room that did not have a look like Scarlett's, of frustration, or anything along those lines. In fact, she looked hopeful as she said something to Scarlett. Because of the noise, no one could hear what they were discussing. But everyone could see the smile grow on Scarlett's face as Nix explained something to her.

Scarlett leapt to her feet once more, with new fervor and heart. "Guys, listen up! GUYS!" She was having trouble shouting over the other people arguing in the lounge.

Bethany, who was scrawling in a journal and not taking part in most of the conversation, looked up and noticed Scarlett's struggle. She was very interested in the closure of the Tragic Torrent and what the students planned to do to attempt to save it. It would surely keep the headlines of the newspaper filled for the next month. "I got this," she said to Scarlett, who was silenced. She stood on the couch as well and let out an earsplitting scream.

It worked.

Every person in the room turned their shocked eyes toward the two girls standing on the couch. They high-fived, and Bethany retook her place back in the corner with her notepad. "Thanks," Scarlett smiled. "Anyway, we had an idea and I think it would work. I - ," she paused and looked back at Nix. "Sorry, what's your name again?"

"Nix."

"Alright. Nix, wanna explain this to everyone?" Scarlett asked sweetly.

Nix didn't seem to have an answer to that. Well, she did, the answer was no, she did not. But she saw the hope on everyone's faces at Scarlett's confidence in her idea. So, taking a deep breath, she stood up alongside Scarlett.

"Okay," Nix said. "It's called Penny Wars."

…

It was a simple concept, really.

Bethany liked it. Everyone liked it. But Bethany liked it because she felt that, if everyone got into it, it would make for some interesting stories. Everyone had erupted into excited conversation at this idea, so sure it was going to work, and it sounded fun too.

After everyone got this gist of the idea, Scarlett, Alice, and Nix headed off to the Headmaster's office to get it approved and everyone else went their separate ways. Bethany caught up with Claire who was, for some odd reason, heading out to the basketball courts.

"You think it'll work?" she asked, knowing it would be the talk of the school for the next few days before it got into action.

"I think it will," Claire said but there was a slight uncertainty in her tone. "At least, I hope so. I feel like everyone is motivated enough to make it work."

Bethany had to agree and she, too, hoped the Penny Wars would work. She may be a journalist first, but she was a student second. And as a student, she wanted the Tragic Torrent to stay open.

She soon realized why Claire was headed toward the basketball courts as she saw the outlines of two people tossing the basketball casually. It was DJ Fornell, one of Claire's oldest and best friends, and a new girl that Bethany thought was called Marissa.

Claire hopped on the fence that surrounded the basketball court and Bethany joined her. It was a minute before DJ and Marissa realized she was there. "Claire!" he exclaimed and immediately dropped the ball to run over and hug her. They were great friends but had not had time to see each other apart from briefly at the Torrent before things got out of hand.

Marissa and Bethany laughed. "You totally missed it," she said.  
"Missed what?" DJ asked curiously.

"Brainstorming," Bethany said. "Some great ideas flying around. To keep the club open," she added at the confusion on his face.

"Oh, yeah?" DJ asked, looking to Claire to see if this was true.

She nodded. "Yeah. Nix came up with the idea."

"You gonna explain this, or am I not allowed to help?" DJ asked jokingly.

"Well, it's called Penny Wars…" Claire began but DJ interrupted her.

"Sweetheart, I don't think pennies are going to save the Tragic Torrent," he said.

"Let me finish!" she said, pouting and shoving him slightly. "Okay, each homeroom is like a country at war with all the others. The pennies count as positive points for your homeroom. The silver coins – quarters, nickels, and dimes – are negative. If someone 'bombs' your class with them, then it pretty much cancels out that worth of pennies."

DJ thought for a second. "So, if I brought in twenty five pennies for my class…and you bombed me with a quarter…"

"It would be like having zero," Bethany nodded, finishing his sentence for him.

"What about dollar bills?" Marissa asked, seeming interested.

"They count as positive," Claire explained.

"Sounds like fun," DJ smiled, sounding as excited as everyone else had been at the plan.

"Penny Wars?" someone questioned as they skated by, skidding to a halt and kicking their skateboard up into their grip. Hunter approached the fence that they were all gathered on. "I'm pumped. I'm on my way to the bank right now to get my whole wallet's worth of coins."

They laughed. "I'll have to dig through my jeans pockets," Marissa said thoughtfully.

"My American Lit class is so going to kick ass," DJ said. Bethany nodded in agreement, as they were in the same class.

"Um, wrong sir," Hunter said. "For it is my Spanish class that will be doing the ass kicking. Right Claire?" She laughed and nodded.

"Bring it on," DJ teased.

"Who's the girl that came up with the idea?" Hunter asked Claire.

"Nix," Claire said. "She's new here. Really nice."

"And smoking hot," Hunter added.

Bethany, Marissa, and Claire all rolled their eyes. "That would be the reason you asked," Bethany commented, unsurprised.

"Weird clothes, though," Hunter added, not phased at all by Bethany's comment.

"She's really into fashion," Claire explained.

"And she's right there," Marissa nodded off into the distance where Scarlett, Nix, and Alice were approaching from.

"Crap, she heard me didn't she?" Hunter said.

Claire laughed. "No, she's on her way over. I'll introduce you," she offered.

"Nah. That's not necessary," Hunter said. Claire shrugged in a 'suit yourself' type of way as Hunter proceeded to yell, "Hey ladies! I'm on my way to the bank to get some cash. Wanna join?"

"That depends," Alice said as they joined the group. "Are you robbing the bank or exchanging money?"

"Funny," Hunter said as everyone else laughed. "Guess there's only one way to find out," he winked as he dropped his skateboard back on the ground and hopped on. "Coming?" he said, looking at Claire.

"Nah, I'll probably drop by the bank this weekend or something," Claire said. He shrugged and skated off. Scarlett and Alice followed.

"Red and White's this weekend," DJ reminded her. "Aren't you coming?"

"Of course," Claire answered. "Basketball's not in it though, right?"

"Unfortunately not," he sighed. "But that's okay. I can just chill with friends."

"Good, we haven't been able to hang out in… forever," Claire smiled.

"I totally forgot about Red and White," Bethany said. "Something exciting better happen. Something to top last year."

"Got your head in the paper, still, Collins?" DJ asked and Bethany chuckled. "You call a streaker exciting?"

"Very," she said, as she and Claire laughed at the memory.

"You guys had a streaker?" Marissa asked but their laughter was enough of an answer. "Oh dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?"

**What indeed, Marissa? What indeed.**

**I've been trying to use all of the OC's equally but it's not always working. I just don't want you all to be overwhelmed by characters. I know I'm used to them already…next chapter will probably the trip into Hollywood. First taste of the city life for some of these people.**

**Sorry if some of you guys aren't familiar with USA monetary systems. My school just did Penny Wars recently, and I thought it would be fun to write. **

**Also, I know it's really centralized around one plotline, the Torrent, but that's because it's just starting out. There are others emerging…like Alice and Tyson, Dean and Emma, and… anyone notice this? Claire sitting, literally, on the fence between DJ and Hunter? I totally didn't plan that. Kinda cool though…I've definitely been in World Lit for way too long.**

**Chapter name creds go to PAPA ROACH and their song HOLLYWOOD WHORE.**

**Well…keep on submitting and keep on reviewing. I'm hoping for some characters from the rival school for next chapter HINT HINT WINK WINK.**


	6. Friday Night And I Need A Fight

Elizabeth Albertson had no idea what to wear.

But that was just the tip of it all. There were a lot of things she didn't know. She didn't even know if it mattered all that much. But seeing as she didn't know 90% of the people she was going out with, she wasn't going to take any chances. Thus, she continued digging through her closet and drawers for what felt like the hundredth time.

A week ago, Elizabeth would have told you that she'd been everywhere. Or at least it felt that way, and it still did, but there was one place missing from her extensive list: Los Angeles. Hollywood – one of the most legendary places on Earth. And suddenly it felt like she was a small town girl who'd never been into the city before in her life.

This was not true, she'd been to plenty of cities, why did LA seem so different? Or maybe it wasn't LA. Maybe it was everyone talking about the rock club, the Roxy – now that was something she knew about. The club as legendary as the city. She didn't know what to expect.

Elizabeth sighed deeply and ventured out of her room to find her roommates sitting on the couch. Libby was doing Juliet's nails, and Melody was curling her hair. She sat down as well. "You guys been to this place before?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Of course."

"A few times."

Great. So she'd be one of the only ones new to the club scene. "I don't know… what to wear."

"Something hot and revealing," Melody answered, looking eager to help. Elizabeth wasn't sure whether she wanted Melody's help; Melody looked pretty in the tight violet dress with a black lace over it, and bright makeup with her hair loosely curled over her shoulders. But Elizabeth wasn't sure if she could pull it off.

"Hon, if you'd told us earlier, we could've taken you shopping," Libby sighed. She was wearing a short teal halter dress. It was way more Elizabeth's style than Melody's outfit.

"I guess I didn't really think about it till now," Elizabeth shrugged. It was true. She cared deeply about her looks, but was never one to plan her outfits in advance.

"Well let's see," Melody said, unplugging her curling iron and parading into Elizabeth's room. By the time Elizabeth got in behind her, Melody was already in her closet examining the clothes.

Occasionally she would throw something aside, or hold something up to something else. Finally, she turned to Elizabeth. "Where are your shoes?" Elizabeth wordlessly pointed to a box in the bottom of the closet, which Melody proceeded to dig through.

"Alright," she sighed deeply. "What do you think…" She threw a pair of dark, extremely skinny jeans onto the bed with a silver, blindingly glittery spaghetti strap shirt. Finally, she held up a pair of dressy leather heels.

Things that Elizabeth never thought she'd really wear again, but this was the only advice she had. "I'll try it on," she said, unable to keep the uneasiness out of her voice.

Melody put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll have to get you some party dresses. I'm thinking leather…" she trailed off in thought, then snapped out of it. "Change, and then Jules, Libby, and I will help with your hair and make up."

"Thanks," she said quietly as she heard the door shut.

…

When Alice leapt out of the limo, a huge group of students was gathered just outside the gates of Smarba. Gunner was at the front of them all. He pulled Alice aside while everyone piled into the hummer limo. "What driver did you get?"

"Kyle…why?" Alice added at the look on Gunner's face.

"You know he's a dealer by night, right?" Gunner asked. Alice's jaw dropped.

"Is he the one from Tragic Torrent the other night? Alessandra's supplier?" she asked. Gunner nodded.

"This stays between us," he put an arm on her shoulder before motioning to the limo. They both climbed in and joined their fellow classmates.

Though it was large and roomy normally, the car was packed tight with the extra bodies in there. They were all chattering, some nervous, most excited. Gunner and Alice piled into the nearest seats which happened to be next to Tyson Grey. He and Alice exchanged a quick smile before she introduced them. "Tyson, this is Gunner. Gunner, this is Tyson. He's new here."

They shook hands briefly, reaching across Alice to do so. "So you organized this whole thing, then? Got some guts to do that," Tyson said, eyeing the rest of his classmates.

"You don't know the half of it," Gunner sighed, running a hand through his messy golden hair. Alice shot him a warning look. To avoid any further questions, he spoke again. "Uh…Alice, how much do I owe you for the limo?"

She waved it off. "It's on me. We're supposed to be party planning partners in crime, remember? That means I contribute as much as you do," she hit him lightly.

"Okay, fine, but I'll cover dinner and admission to the Roxy," he said. She shrugged.

Tyson, who listened with interest, joined in. "So, are you two filthy rich or something?"

"Pretty much," they said simultaneously. "Inheritance," Alice explained without question.

"My dad owns Sosa Tech," Gunner also added.

"Really?" Tyson questioned curiously. "Wait, you two aren't related?"

Both of them laughed. "We get that a lot," the said in unison once again. "Nope. Neighbors, classmates, best friends…" She leaned on his shoulder affectionately to which he rolled his eyes.

"Says who?" he said but laughed anyway.

"He likes to pretend he doesn't love me, but he knows he does," Alice explained to Tyson, who laughed.

"Are you kidding me?" Shannon scoffed from nearby. "You two practically live together. Of course he loves you."

"Only 'cause staying with my aunt is so lame," Alice argued but laughed along with Gunner anyway. Tyson, however, didn't find it as funny. He knew Gunner was a nice guy, but for a reason he couldn't explain (or didn't want to admit), he was not Gunner's biggest fan.

If they didn't arrive at that very moment, maybe someone would have noticed the lack-of-amusement on Tyson's face, but luckily, they did. The driver got up and opened the door for them and they all began to pile out. "Wait for us here, Kyle?" Alice asked the driver.

Kyle was very tall and pale, looking very unnatural in Southern California where everyone was tan. His eyes were dark, near black, as was his hair. His face was emotionless as he nodded and continued holding the door open.

Gunner and Alice shared an uneasy look as Sandy emerged from the limo, and locked eyes with Kyle for a moment. She was very intelligent though and decided not to speak up about Kyle's 'other job' in such a public place. They had no explanation, however, for Kyle meeting Nick's gaze as Nick walked out. He seemed to halt in his tracks for a moment before realizing that he was blocking others.

"Wanna lead the way, Sosa?" Alice then said to Gunner.

He shrugged his consent as she decided to take up the rear of the parade. Tyson was left near the front, but his attention soon turned to… well, everything. He smiled up at the large white Hollywood sign on the hill, and, like many of his fellow new kids, could not resist pulling out his camera and snapping a few shots.

"There's a little mall up here that you can get better shots from," someone said behind him. He turned to see a tall guy with spiky blonde hair and green eyes with his hand extended. Tyson shook it. "I'm Matt, Matt Corbain. You're… Tyson?"

"Yeah," Tyson nodded, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. "You're in my Stats class, right?"

Matt nodded. "So. You're really challenging yourself there. Going after Alice Williams just your first week here?"

Tyson didn't want to look embarrassed. "She's not your girlfriend, is she?"

Matt laughed. "Oh no, she's not my type. Don't worry…about me."

"Well, I still have no idea what you're talking about," Tyson said defiantly. Matt just shrugged, not feeling like arguing when he knew he was right. "But if I did, who would I have to be worried out?" he added curiously, to which Matt laughed again and didn't immediately answer. "Him?" He added once again, nodding to Gunner who was talking with Dean, Emma, and Elizabeth.

"Richie?" Matt questioned with slight surprise. "Oh no. They're close, but I don't think they've ever been more than friends."

"That's hard to believe," Tyson said genuinely and then was distracted again. "Whoa, Louis Armstrong!" he said, pointing at the star beneath his feet, a smile taking over his feet. "No way, the Beatles!"

"Music fan?" Matt asked to which he got a vigorous nod in response. "Yeah, who doesn't love the Beatles?"

"So true," Tyson agreed. There was silence between them for a moment before he asked again. "Do you have an answer or what?"

"Oh right," Matt said. "Well. Alice is popular. She's got a lot of admirers."

"That narrows it down."

"Okay, okay, your biggest competitor…quite literally," Matt turned around and began walking backwards, apparently scanning for someone. He caught sight of Alice's flaming red hair easily. "Big surprise, she's talking to him now. Big guy, spiky brown hair?" he pointed. "That's Russ."

"He's not that big," Tyson commented.

"Well, he's not all that tall," Matt said uneasily. "But he's…strong. Trust me, _not_ someone you want to mess with."

"Figures," Tyson sighed. "You know him well?"

"Oh, yeah," Matt said. Tyson sighed once again. "Look, you don't have to worry about Russ that much either. They're not officially together, and I doubt they will be because… well…" He looked uneasy and unsure of how to finish the sentence.

Luckily, Dean, who was taking a break from continuously asking Emma out, overheard and decided to cut in. "Alice and Russ?" They nodded their confirmation. "The beautiful cheerleader and the star football player, of course it _had_ to happen." At this, Dean had to throw in an eye roll. "Don't worry about it man, both of them are just in it for the sex. They're not together so they can fool around with other people on the side." He clapped a hand on Tyson's shoulder, who did not look reassured by any means.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go take a picture of that Chinese Theater," he said in a tone of voice that clearly said he wanted this conversation to end a long time ago.

"How'd you get El Capitano to come anyway?" Dean asked, obviously not knowing what was really going on in that conversation.

Matt shrugged. "Beats me. He does not seem too happy about it, though."

There was nothing said between them for another few seconds before Dean said, "I thought he melted in the sunlight."

Matt gave him an extremely weird look. "He's outside on the field with us _all the time_."

"Well…" Dean struggled to come up with a good argument for this. Instead, he redirected his attention back to Emma and Elizabeth. "Hey Emma!"

"What, Dean?" She snapped, which was unnatural coming from her.

"I was wondering if you could ask your friend Elizabeth if she'd like to go out with me," he said to everyone's surprise, flashing a stunning white smile in an embarrassed Elizabeth's direction.

"Umm…" Emma was more shocked than anybody else and could not seem to decide whether Dean was serious or not. "I was wondering if you were on some sort of new, untested drug."

"Not that I know of," Dean chuckled.

"And that's your first problem," she muttered, shaking her head. She picked up her conversation with Elizabeth again as if that little interruption hadn't occurred.

Dean sighed as he looked at them, annoyance on his face. "Better luck next time, bro," Matt patted his shoulder.

Dean grimaced but changed the subject anyway. "Who is this kid, anyway?" he motioned to Tyson who had not wasted any time in wandering away from them.

"Tyson."

"Right," Dean nodded. "Well, this is going to get interesting real fast."

"Why's that?"

"Cuz he's not the only new kid with an eye on the Dream Couple from Hell," Dean commented, glancing behind him. It took a few seconds for Matt to interpret what Dean was talking about, but he turned around too, curious. Alice was clearly getting frustrated, as Melody was getting very close to Russ, who looked more bored than anything else.

"They haven't met before, have they?" Matt asked. Melody had lived in LA for a few years before moving back again. Most people knew her, unless they were new. Russ had been new the previous year.

Dean shook his head. "That's one thing that Tyson and the Mad Hatter have in common though," Dean said, using a common nickname for Alice. Matt looked at him curiously. "They both have a grudge against Melody."

…

For Alice, that grudge was going stronger by the minute.

She, Scarlett, Sawyer, Miles, Russ, Marissa, Kate, and now Melody were hanging out near the back. All of them, except Marissa, had been there and done that when it came to Hollywood, so they were not very interested in the trip until nightfall came along. However, everyone was slowly drifting further from Alice and Melody as their argument got more heated. Even Russ looked a little uncomfortable being the subject of the conversation, though that might have been because he didn't want to be there. The others were able to dodge away from the conversation and form their own. Kate and Miles were more than happy to be the tour guides for Marissa.

"Whoa, are those handprints from the actors in Harry Potter?" Marissa asked, pointing to the ground beneath them, where many celebrities had signed the cement when it was still wet. Sure enough, there was Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson's names right there.

"You like Harry Potter?" Miles questioned. He hadn't expected that out of her.

Marissa grinned sheepishly and put a finger to her lips. "Shh…not so loud…" she quickly snapped a picture.

"Oh, I know something you'll like," Miles said. He started walking and Kate and Marissa followed. They came upon yet another star in the sidewalk, but this one was getting far more attention than the rest of them.

"Michael Jackson?" Kate inquired and Miles nodded.

"Well, I'm more of a punk rock type of girl," Marissa said, the grin still on her face. "But, MJ was the King. Gotta love him." Once they penetrated through the crowd, she got a picture of that too.

Shannon and Claire rushed over. "Hey Kate, come get a picture with this guy dressed as Jack Sparrow!"

Kate laughed, said, "I'll be right back!" and ran off to do just that.

Miles and Marissa wandered off and caught up with their group again. The moment they rejoined, Reggie was upon them. "Dude, remember that leather store? It's right there!" Reggie said, pointing to small store on the corner.

Miles and Sawyer burst out laughing from the memory of whatever happened in that leather store, and even Russ managed a smirk. "Well c'mon, let's go!" Sawyer said and the boys began to make their way over there.

"Can I come?" Marissa asked, smiling.

The laughter kind of died from their faces. "I don't think so, Rissa. You'd be bored 'cuz you wouldn't understand... the… history, of the place," Miles apologized.

"Then explain it to me," she shrugged.

"Well… it's kind of a guy thing," he said. "I gotta go, see ya later!"

Marissa frowned as he ran off toward his friends. Well… a guy thing, that was understandable, right? She probably didn't even want to know. Scarlett, too, was a little upset that Sawyer had run off during their conversation and spoke now. "They do that a lot… they have so many inside jokes and memories that it's scary."

Marissa looked at her. "Doesn't it get annoying?"

Scarlett shrugged. "I guess, sometimes. But I always hang out with the girls, too, so I can't really talk."

Marissa nodded but didn't reply. For someone who mainly hung out with guys, it would probably get very annoying.

…

The huge group of students had dinner before hopping in the limo once again to drive down Sunset Boulevard. Sam was unsurprised that they waited till sunset to do so, but he soon realized that it was totally worth it. The chauffer, Kyle, took them on the roads in the hills and through Bel-Air to see the hidden celebrities' houses.

"You hear things about celebrities chilling in Hollywood," he said, pulling his eyes away from the window and looked at Nick, who looked slightly bored. "It seemed more like a tourist trap to me."

Nick laughed. "That's exactly what it is," he answered. "Sometimes you'll see celebrities where we're going…Sunset Strip."

Sam nodded. The famous Sunset Strip. "You all act like this is some average thing," he noted, looking out the window again. "It's incredible."

Micah was sitting beside him and smiled. "You don't miss it till you lose it, Sammy. Most of us have lived here our whole lives. I'm sure a lot of us think going to Spain would be unbelievable."

Sam, who had mentioned that he'd lived in Spain, understood what she meant. "You hear things your whole life… it's a little intimidating," he admitted. "Not knowing anything about what this place is really like."

"It's really not that different from the rumors," Nick told him. "The beautiful blonde and tan people roaming on the beaches…" Sam found this ironic, seeing as Nick and his sister were two of the darkest-haired and palest people he'd seen in his life.

"But what most people don't know is that the water is freezing," Micah interrupted. "Year-round. Ice cold."

"That's rather depressing," Sam said. He wasn't too big on beaches or anything, but he could imagine the disappointment of going to relax on the beach and then freezing in the water.

"The insane people and the parties in Hollywood," Nick went on. "Though, like I said, it's generally the Sunset Strip part of Hollywood."

"Hey! Let's get some music going on up in here!" Brian felt the need to shout at this exact moment, making everyone in the limo jump.

"For example, our resident insane partier, Brian Caldwell," Micah muttered to which Nick and Sam laughed.

"Admit it, life would be boring without them," Nick teased her.

"Life is what you make it," Micah responded, a small smile on he face. "They make it interesting for themselves, and, if you choose it, for you."

The three of them continued on with their conversation while Kyle, submitting to the request of Brian, turned on the radio. Just a couple minutes later, the sounds of a motorcycle revving filled the limousine. Simultaneously, Brian, Hunter, and Reggie, yelled "WOO!" with the singer on the radio, making everyone jump again.

"Dear God, save our souls," Gunner muttered just loud enough for the people nearby to hear him. He knew exactly what was coming next.

Reggie, too, heard his prayer. "Gunner," he said, gripping his shoulders and looking him in the eye very seriously. "It's a sign. We have to."

"_Friday night, and I need a fight_!" Hunter and Brian chorused beside them.

"Absolutely not," Gunner said forcefully over the boys screaming the words.

"It is _destiny_," Reggie went on. Some people were laughing, others looking worried, and a very small amount confused. "You can't deny!"

"…_but what I need to make me tight are those GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS_!" the other two shouted.

"Coincidence, that's all," Gunner said, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. The two continued to argue and Sam finally had to ask over the fighting and the singing, about what in the world was going on.

"Somebody please explain," he looked between Micah and Nick.

"Do you know this song?" Nick replied, sighing.

"Girls, Girls, Girls by Motley Crue," Sam answered, nodding. Motley Crue was an infamous band from Los Angeles who were known for their excessive partying and drug use. Something clicked. "…about strip clubs."

"There's a place on Sunset," Micah went on. "With a huge sign, that says, '_Live, Nude, Girls, Girls, Girls_."

"It's called –," Nick began, but was cut off by an unusually loud lyric from Hunter, Brian, and Reggie."

"_B-B-BODY SHOP AT THE MARBLE ARCH_!" they all practically screamed.

"Turn here!" Reggie shouted, pointing at the very same sign that Micah was just describing.

"I know where to turn!" Kyle smirked, and the three of them laughed.

"Kyle… Roxy, as originally planned," Alice demanded. Kyle sighed with disappointment and turned his signal off. Hunter, Brian, and Reggie groaned with disappointment.

"God will punish you for ignoring his sign," Brian told Gunner, who completely ignored him.

"You guys are so difficult," Alice said venomously, glaring at them.

"But that's why you love us!" Hunter argued.

"Please stop talking," she requested.

Sam, Nick, and Micah decided they would rather ignore this argument and struck up their conversation. "The Roxy Theatre," Sam said, his nerves showing in his voice slightly. "How…?"

"It's fun," Micah said confidently. "Trust me."

"It's really not that bad," Nick reassured him. "If we're going, you know it's okay."

Sam nodded, very slightly reassured. He hated the feeling of being nervous because he knew where that got him in the past. But he was determined to have fun tonight no matter what.

The limo pulled to a stop and the students, led by Hunter, Brian, and Reggie, piled out of the car again, roaring like a herd of wild animals.

They had timed it perfectly. They drove through Sunset Boulevard as the sun was setting, and arrived on Sunset Strip just after the sun had disappeared under the horizon. That meant only one thing now.

The Hollywood nightlife had begun.

…

As they purchased their tickets into the club, Hunter complained again to Gunner. "I still can't believe you wouldn't let us go to the Body Shop."

Gunner replied monotonously. "Go right ahead. Just don't bring any strippers back to our dorm, okay?"

Hunter was about to ask if he could if he brought one back for Gunner too, but Claire sensed it coming. "Please don't," she begged.

He sighed. "Fine. But you owe me."

Nix, who was standing with them at the time, was looking around and taking it all in at once. The Roxy was not extravagant, at least from the outside. If they had driven past it, she never would have known the difference. It was a small, box-like black building that blended in with the night sky.

"Not what I expected," Nix found herself noting aloud.

Hunter heard her. "It's not what I would've expected either, if I were you," he said as he opened the door and let Nix and Claire in. "It's better."

She was almost blasted back out the door by the volume of the music. As she walked in, the stage was in the uppermost right corner. Presently, there was a band of guys with extremely long hair jamming on the stage. A few feet away from the front of the stage were small round tables where there were sure to be dancers once the night wore on. The VIP section was to her left where some tables and chairs were.

This is exactly where Gunner led them. The bouncer shook his hand. "Mr. Sosa, how you doin'?"

"Not too bad, and yourself?" he said as the students made themselves at home in the tables and chairs.

"Good, good," he said. He called over to the kids. "Hey, leave some room for the bands, alright? It'll be a tight fit." They did as he instructed and squeezed themselves into the chairs. "And Ms. Williams, good to see you again," he said as Alice walked past.

Alice smiled charmingly. "And you," she said. "Lots of familiar faces?"

"A few," the bouncer replied, looking at the faces of the students. "Some of our best guests are here tonight."

"That's good to hear," he said as he and Alice said their goodbyes and took their seats. "So," he said quietly to Alice. "Bets on how long till all Hell breaks loose?"

"Realistically?" she said, raising her eyebrows. Their classmates were probably getting rambunctious already. "Fifteen minutes."

…

An hour later, the party was in full swing.

Hunter, Brian, and Reggie were the first to crowd around the dancers' tables once they walked out in their skimpy little outfits, followed by many of the other boys in their school. Alice was actually kind of grateful that they had those girls to keep them distracted. One of the lone people who was still lounging in the VIP section was Matt.

Alice took the seat next to him. "Hey, you seen Russ?" she asked, noticing that he wasn't secluding himself in the VIP section or crowding around the dancers. She could not figure out where else he would be.

Matt nodded and checked his watch. "He went back to the dorms."

"What?" she exclaimed. "When?"

"Like, fifteen minutes after we got here," Matt answered. "He asked me to give him half an hours' head start, then tell you."

Alice scowled. She was not very surprised. "Well, that's his loss then," she pouted. "Come dance," she requested, practically dragging Matt out of his seat and onto the dance floor. Matt didn't say anything, but he thought he saw Melody wandering around looking for Russ too.

From his spot by the dancers' tables, Dean saw Alice dragging Matt down to the dance floor to be social. He noticed Elizabeth still sitting up there, looking slightly uncomfortable. Pushing through the people, he managed to get back into the VIP section and sit beside her.

"I wasn't kidding earlier, you know," he said, with a famous Dean Luciano smile to go along with it.

Elizabeth blushed. "I barely know you," she answered eventually.

Dean shrugged. Fair answer. He supposed that asking consistently wasn't the way to go with all girls. "How 'bout just a dance, then?" he stood up and held out his hand.

She only hesitated for a second before taking his hand and letting him lead her out onto the floor.

…

Kyle Moore knew that these kids would party at the Roxy until they kicked them out, so he didn't want to wait around. He made his rounds in Hollywood, doing what he did best, and when he returned to the Roxy, the streets were virtually empty.

_Looks like they haven't caused enough to trouble to be kicked out_, Kyle thought to himself. He had an evil urge to change that. There were still a few hours left in the night – or rather, a few hours left till the Roxy closed in the early hours of the morning. Plenty of time to wreak some havoc.

Kyle dug around in his limo for his gear and sidled into the front door of the Roxy, hidden in the shadows. He saw that Sandy had gathered up some people and they were – big surprise – playing cards. He strolled over and sat behind her.

"Sandy," he said. She jumped slightly, not expecting to hear him.

"Kyle," she said calmly. "I don't need anything."

"Yeah, about that," he said. "I've been thinking." She looked at him, slightly frightened as to what he's been thinking about. "Why would I sell to you, so you can sell to your friends for more than what you bought from me? I thought that was my job," he added. Sandy was about to speak but he went on. "Teenagers are stupid, and desperate. I can make loads off of these guys before they die."

"Or before you die, whichever comes first," Sandy sneered.

He glared back at her. "You watch yourself, Alessandra," he stood up. "I've been in the business for a long time. I know control. You'd be gone long before I would."

Kyle made to walk away but Sandy grabbed his arm, completely neglecting the card game now. "You need me," she hissed under her breath, knowing full well that they were listening in.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"You don't know any of these people," she said smugly. "Know who would be a loyal customer, or who would turn you in." His face grew, if possible, even more pale. "You don't know the ins-and-outs of the school, and how to organize meetings without getting caught."

Kyle gave a typical scowl when he realized she was right. "I am not paying you for that," he said, wondering what else he could offer her other than money for those services.

"Fine," Sandy said stubbornly. "But remember what I do for you, Kyle. One of these days, you're going to have to pay me back."

"Yeah, okay," he snarled, yanking his arm out from her grip now, with no intention of really ever paying her back. He lounged in the back for a few minutes more, exchanging random glares with Sandy every few minutes. Finally, someone spoke to him.

"Hey, have we met?" a kid with long blonde hair and piercings said from a table near to him, peering at him with slightly glazed-over eyes. By the look on his face, and the tall girl's next to him, they were both completely wasted.

"No, I don't think so," Kyle muttered, turning away from them slightly.

"You look really familiar," he went on, tilting his head in confusion.

"Hey! You giving up, or what, Maddox?" the girl said finally, looking impatient.

"Aw Hell no," he said, turning back to their competition. Hunter took another shot, letting their drinking game commence where it had left off the other night.

Kyle was interested. "You like drugs as much as you like alcohol?"

"Of course," Hunter and Zoey answered at the same time. One of their spectators, however, had an even more enthusiastic answer.

"More so," she said, flinging her black hair over her shoulders and looking at him with interest.

"Yeah, yeah, Moore, we all know you're a junkie," Brian said lazily, to which he got a punch in the arm.

"What did you just say?" Kyle snapped in his direction.

Brian looked thoroughly confused. "Um, I told Mel that we all know she's a junkie."

Kyle was just as confused. Moore, however, was a common last name and chose not to comment on it. "Right… well… I know people, I can hook you up if you'd ever need it."

"We know someone," Hunter answered for her.

"Well, I'm afraid Alessandra is not going to be able to provide anything to you anymore," he said. They all looked up at him in shock, not expecting him to know who they were talking about. "And if you want it, you'll have to come to me."

"Wait, wait, why?" Zoey questioned.

"Does it matter?" he snapped. "Just letting you know. And I don't plan on showing up on campus often, either, so you better think carefully about it."

"Alright, what's your number?" Melody said, whipping out her phone without thinking twice.

As Kyle opened his mouth, a different shout echoed through the air. "Melody!" Nick yelled, storming his way up to their table.

"Nicholas," she sighed. "Go away."

"No," he said defiantly. Many people were surprised to see, again, this fire emanating off of Nick. "Melody, I thought I told you that I wasn't going to tolerate this from you anymore."

"What are you going to do? Tell mom on me?" she sneered, standing up and getting in his face. "I don't think so, because she did the exact same thing that I'm doing."

"She wouldn't want you - !" he began to argue but she interrupted.

"No, she wouldn't care what I do," Melody yelled, her fists clenched. "She didn't care about either of us, because if she did she would have taken better care of herself and wouldn't have left us to fend for ourselves!"

"You can't talk! You're worse off than she was!" Nick retaliated.

"You don't know what you're talking about! You've always been able to live a perfect life!" she said. "Not all of us are as lucky as _you_!" and with that, she stormed down to the floor and out the door.

Nick watched her go for a second, that same sad look on his face as at the Torrent. But soon, the anger was back and he whirled around and faced Kyle. "And _you_," he said. "I don't know who you are, but if I catch you _anywhere_ near my sister, I'll have you shot."

"Empty threats," Kyle said, looking not the least bit concerned. "Be more worried for yourself, kid. Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets in the way of my business."

"That's why you're familiar!" Hunter exclaimed as if he had completely ignored the entire heated conversation until now. They both turned to him. "You look like Nick!"

"Nick…?" Kyle said softly, looking between Hunter and Nick.

"Dude!" Reggie exclaimed. "They could be twins!"

The gears in Zoey's brain had begun turning again. "Your last name is Moore," she spoke up. The attention turned to her. "That's why you thought Brian was talking to you."

Nick's jaw dropped as he met Kyle's gaze, as if he had met his own gaze in a mirror. "No…" he said, backing away slowly before running out of the same door that Melody had just vanished out of.

Sandy, having heard the commotion, arrived at the scene. Kyle stood, dumbfounded, staring at the door. "What did you do?" she said accusingly.

"He's my brother," he said.

Sandy was speechless for a moment. "There's no way."

"Are you blind? He looks just like me," Kyle snapped, regaining his bitter attitude once again. "Get out of my way," he said before she could reply, and pushed his way through the crowd back outside to the limo.

"Nick's been connected this whole time and he hasn't told us?" Reggie questioned stupidly.

Zoey hit him upside the head. "You, sir, are an idiot."

…

Elsewhere, Dmitri was having a drinking contest of his own. Though, being the King of All Things Alcoholic, it was basically a contest against himself. As always. Aaron, who wasn't exactly clean living himself, had given up on trying to save his friend from drowning himself in vodka and just accepted that he was doomed to a life of alcoholism.

"How do you even dress yourself?" Aaron asked as Dmitri ran dead-on into a table and flipped over it.

"Who said that?" Dmitri asked as he pushed himself off the floor. "Oh. It's you."

Aaron sighed, looking around for anyone who wasn't completely out of their minds on narcotics. His eyes first landed on Emma, DJ, Bethany, and Claire who were talking animatedly in a corner. He made his way toward them. Unfortunately for him, Dmitri followed.

"Hey guys," he said casually. "Having fun?"

"Yeah, but I think my ears are permanently damaged," Claire commented, barely audible over the pumped up amps.

"I offered to call a cab if you wanted to head back," DJ laughed.

"I don't know, I kind of like it here," she said, shrugging.

"I think I might take you up on that offer, DJ," Emma interjected at this time.

"What's wrong? Not enjoying yourself?" Aaron asked.

She shrugged. "It's just… kind of late… and the track has to be in Red & White tomorrow…" she said rather lamely.

"This doesn't have to do with Dean and Elizabeth does it?" DJ inquired. The two of them hadn't left each other's sides all night. They were dancing again as they spoke.

"Of course not," she waved it away impatiently. They all stared at her, clearly not believing it. "Look, if I cared that deeply, I would've said yes to all those times that he asked me out."

"Whatever you say," Claire said with a sad smile on her face. Emma looked defeated. Aaron, however, got distracted when they'd looked over at Dean and Elizabeth; dancing not too far from them was his sister, Mary, and some guy that he did not know.

Without saying a word he left their group and made their way over toward them. "Oh God, what's with all the overly-protective older brothers tonight?" Bethany sighed, knowing that Aaron was infamous for being extremely protective over Mary.

"What do you mean?" Dmitri questioned.

"Haven't you heard?" she said, a smile creeping onto her face. She loved being the first to spill gossip to people. "Saint Nicolas has unleashed the beast within. He snapped on this drug dealer who was talking to Melody, and he turned out to be Nick's older brother."

"No way," Claire whispered. "You're exaggerating."

She shook her blonde hair vigorously. "Nope. Every word, the whole truth," she said.

"Parker's fighting a losing battle, there," Dmitri commented, actually sounding sensible for someone so drunk. "Mel is a lost cause. I'm surprised she's still alive."

"I'm surprised you're still alive," DJ said, looking at Dmitri skeptically. Claire elbowed him. "What? Look at him."

"I do not have a problem," Dmitri scowled.

"Dude, not only do you have a problem, but…" DJ began, but Claire elbowed him again.

DJ was very lucky that Dmitri was distracted at this moment, because knowing Dmitri, he was bound to lose his cool and throw a punch. "Hey, this looks cool," he was examining a stack of fliers on the ground. He picked one up. "Roxy Theatre hosts battle of the bands," he read aloud.

"That does sound cool," Claire said excitedly. "Can I have one of those? I should give it to Hunter."

"Is he in a band?" DJ asked.

"No, but he has some musical friends, I'm sure he could put one together," she shrugged as she took the flier from Dmitri's hands.

"Let me see one, too," Bethany said. "I can put something about it in the paper."

Dmitri rolled his eyes but handed one to her anyway. "Why am I not surprised?"

She smiled mischievously. "Because that's what I _do_, Dmitri."

"Yeah, but you don't do anything else," he argued.

"All you do is drink," she countered and he scowled.

"I'm leaving now," he said, sauntering off to who-knows-where.

…

"Hey Mary," Aaron had said enthusiastically as he intentionally cut between her and her dance partner. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, hi Aaron," she said, blushing slightly. "This is Lee. Lee, this is my brother Aaron."

"Nice to meet you," Aaron said, though his voice and facial expression contradicted that statement completely. "You new around here?"

"No, I've lived here for a while," Lee said.

"I see. How old are you?"

"Twenty-one."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" he shouted. The guy scampered off.

"Aaron," Mary sighed.

"Mary, do you ever think?" Aaron asked, shaking his head. "I can't believe I let you come here."

"Let me come here…?"

"Aaron, you're no fun," Gabe said from nearby.

"I am fun," he protested defiantly. "I just don't want my sister having too much fun with people who are _four years older than her_."

"It's not that big of a difference," Micah pointed out. "They were just dancing."

"Still, you're not going to convince me," Aaron said stubbornly. "At school, I'm in charge of you. That's final," he said to her. Mary pouted but did not speak up. "You're lucky that the band is about to finish. Otherwise I'd have to send you back."

She rolled her eyes but still didn't argue. "Yeah, let's get out of here and beat the crowd," she agreed, heading toward the door. Gabe, Micah, Aaron, and many of their other classmates followed.

Alice and Gunner were the last to leave, making sure they didn't abandon any of their friends at the Roxy. Both of them looked beat, for having to be the 'responsible guardians' for the night.

"Why do we put ourselves through this every year?" Gunner asked as they, exhausted, climbed into the limo once again.

"I wish I knew," she sighed as they pulled out of parking and headed back to reality.

…

Russell's prediction was exactly right.

Anyone who'd been out the night before slept till the afternoon and wasn't in very good a shape when they awoke. In his dorm, Sawyer and Miles were both passed out on their beds still even when Russ returned from the gym at 12:30.

Aaron glanced up from where he was reading on the couch. "Welcome back," he said. "Did ya miss me?"

"Yeah, definitely not," Russ sneered.

"Well, then."

"I say we wake them up," Russ suggested.

"Nicely?" Aaron raised his eyebrows.

"You crazy?" Russ countered. Aaron chuckled and walked quietly into Miles's room while Russ headed into Sawyer's. Aaron quickly pulled out his phone and pulled up a song list. He found the loudest, heaviest song he could and turned the volume up all the way. Holding it next to his friend's ear, he pressed play.

Miles jumped awake instantly, instinctively flailing his arm outwards and hitting Aaron's hand, causing his phone to go flying. Normally, Aaron would be furious at this, but he was too busy laughing at the expression on Miles's face, which went from being startled to being irritated.

"What did I _ever_ do to you?" he whined, slamming his pillow onto his face. "That didn't help my headache, at all."

"Neither did the six kegs you drank last night," Aaron said through his laughter.

"Coming from Mr. I-Can-Drink-Out-The-Bar-And-Still-Not-Be-Drunk," Miles mumbled, reluctantly climbing out of his bed.

From the room next door, they could hear an extremely loud thump and Sawyer yelling his traditional Sawyer catchphrase "SON OF A BITCH!"

Aaron strolled over and froze in the doorway. "You flipped his bed over?"

"While I was still in it!" Sawyer scowled, glaring daggers at Russ.

Russ shrugged. "I didn't think I could actually do it."

"Go to Hell."

"I thought I was already there?"

"You will be, if you don't watch out."

"You two fight like you're married!" Miles shouted through the walls.

"Sawyer's more like a whiny ex-wife," Russ noted to which Aaron and Miles burst out laughing.

"Shut up. It's too early to have an insult war," Sawyer muttered, propping his bed up into an upright position before crawling back into it.

"It's almost one in the afternoon," Aaron pointed out.

"Yeah, and DJ wants to know if we want to come play basketball," Russ added. "He and Matt are at the courts already."

"How are they not tired?" Miles asked as he came stumbling into the room. He was now fully dressed and clutching his head in pain. "Or hungover?"

"Because they're not _stupid_," Russ scowled sarcastically. "I'm leaving. See ya there." He turned and walked out. They heard the door shut.

"Wake me up five minutes before we have to be at Red and White," Sawyer mumbled as he pulled the sheets over his head.

Aaron and Miles shared a glance, before simultaneously and silently tilting Sawyer's bed again and having him tumble out of it.

".."

…

The normally green fields were covered in masses of red and white. Faces were painted, school spirit clothes were being worn, bought, and sold, posters and flags were flown. The stands of the stadium were slowly being filled with what seemed to be every student in the school.

Everyone, except, of course, the athletes, who were prepping and warming up. The first to play were the soccer teams. For the occasion, Micah was sporting a large poster that read "#4 GABE!" to support her brother. She was not too hard to find.

Sam, Claire, Sun, Nick, Juilet, Libby, Dan, DJ, Hurley, Nix, Elizabeth, Ben, Aaron, Zoey, Dmitri, Mary, Hunter, Reggie, Brian, Emma, Melody, and Tyson were not on any sports teams and they all gathered in the stands. "Did you make that, too?" Micah asked Nix as she sat down, pointing at her football jersey. It was a dark red and cut off abruptly just above her waist to show her belly button. It had her last name, "FULLER" in white lettering on the back and looked like it was covered in gold sparkles.

She nodded and smiled shyly. As she was nodding, Micah noticed there were gold sparkles in her blonde hair too. "That's really cute, Nix," Claire said. "You should market those."

Nix laughed slightly. "Oh, I don't know," she said very modestly.

"Do you make like everything you wear?" Micah questioned.

Nix shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah. I never want to go somewhere and end up wearing the same thing as somebody else."

At this time, an announcer introduced the soccer teams and their members and the game began. "Gabe should be a football player," Nix said, noticing his total dominance over everyone else's size.

Micah shook her head. "No…that would be a very bad idea," she said and nobody decided to ask why that would be such a bad idea.

Just after halftime, there was a malfunction in the electronic scoreboard. The scores and time went out, as well as the electronic messaging board that would normally post messages like "Goal From #11" or "Nice Save!" The whole game had to be halted while the problem was fixed.

Micah called her brother's name. He rushed over. Being in the front row, they were able to converse easily. "What's going on?"

Gabe shrugged. "I'm sure it's just a power issue," he did not sound too worried. "You know, first time using the board this year. There's bound to be some bugs."

Sure enough, the coaches called him back over moments later. "See?" he said, smiling reassuringly as the game commenced again.

A few minutes later, Marissa and Kate joined their party. "Hey," they said, slightly out of breath and still in their volleyball uniforms. "Good game?"

"Yeah, but Varsity is dominating," Claire answered. "How about yours?"

"We won, but it wasn't a blowout," Marissa answered. "Weirdest thing happened, though."

"The lights kept going out randomly," Kate explained. "And the intercom came on but it was just static."

Micah tilted her head in curiosity. "Weird, we had a problem with the scoreboard not too long ago."

As if it was just waiting for her to say that, the scoreboard had died again. The entire student section roared with their displeasure as the game halted again. Now even Gabe was looking frustrated. On the field, Gunner was in a shouting match with one of the announcers.

"Something's up," they heard Dmitri's voice coming from the row behind them. "This is not a power outage, or a blown fuse."

"Looks like you and Sosa have the same opinion," Hunter said as Gunner got too annoyed and stormed away from his argument.

Once again, the board was fixed and the game was able to finish with a victory toward the older students. They hurried in and out of the locker rooms to allow the football players to get ready.

"Looks like that's our cue," Kate said as she, Melody, Emma, and Marissa departed again to join their fellow track mates. They paraded out into the fields along with the cheerleaders, led by Shannon, the swimmers, golfers, and every other fall sport team.

Their spots were soon taken by Gabe, Charlie, Boone, and Gunner. "Good job, guys," Micah congratulated them. They each thanked her.

"If something screws up during the football game, Russ and Dean are going to lose it," Gabe said. By the sound of his voice, he didn't really believe that it was all technical difficulties, either.

The teams were taking their time in the locker room, so of course, Hunter, Brian, and Reggie, could not go that long without doing anything. They were entertaining themselves by throwing popcorn at whatever and whomever they pleased.

They tossed a piece of popcorn at Melody who was just arriving back with the other track members. She caught it in her mouth.

"Your maturity level amazes me," she said bluntly as they, then, decided to try to catch them in their mouths as well.

"This should be an Olympic Sport," Brian tried to say through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Hey, can I see that for a second," Aaron said rather politely. This should have been Brian's first clue to _not_ let him see the bag of popcorn. But Brian, unfortunately, didn't notice his intentions and gave him the bag.

Aaron got up from his seat and walked over to the fence that separated them from the football field; or, in this case, the cheerleaders, who were standing on the sidelines. He inverted the bag over Shannon's head, and she proceeded to scream in a way that only Shannon would.

Aaron calmly returned to his seat and handed the empty bag back to Brian. "Thanks."

Brian seemed torn between the urge to laugh at Shannon and the urge to yell at Aaron for wasting his popcorn. But luckily, the introduction of the football teams prevented him from having to decide.

There were screams and cheers from the girls at every player that was introduced. The coin was tossed and the younger team got the ball first. The offense took their seats on the sidelines. "Hey," Zoey said, taking the opportunity to torment them. Her victim was Dean. "Don't screw it up for everyone, okay?"

Dean was not offended, he just laughed. "I'll try my best," he said.

"Or should I be directing that toward Second-String Shortstuff?" she asked, now turning her attention to Russ. "How much did you have to pay them to make you captain, huh? As a 10th grader?"

He did not take his eyes off the game for a second but muttered something vile that caused even Zoey to draw back for a moment in shock. "Listen, you," she was only taken aback for a second before she retained her usual angry scowl. "If you ever say anything like that to me again…"

Russ completely ignored her as he and the rest of the offense took the field. Just as they were about to start the play, the scoreboard went out. Seeing as the score was still zero-zero, no one should have cared that much. But since it was the third time it happened that night, everyone was outraged.

As Gabe had predicted, Dean and Russ were infuriated. Russ threw the football into the turf with anger, as Dean rushed over to the announcers' table to give them a piece of his mind.

Quicker than before, the score was back up and the game reinitiated. Everything went smoothly for the remainder of the first half. Night fell just before halftime and the lights went on for the cheerleaders to do their routines.

Once the game began again, Dmitri's sharp eye caught some movement. He was not concerned about watching the game anymore, because there was a clear winner. Instead he peered in that direction to see if he was just imagining things.

"Are you seeing that?" DJ noticed him looking over there as well.

"Yeah," he murmured. He and DJ looked at each other and simultaneously got up out of their seats. Nobody noticed them leave, because they were absorbed in the game. The stadium erupted in cheers once the timer hit zero, meaning victory for the Varsity team.

But soon the cheers turned into screams as night engulfed them completely. Every light in the vicinity went out. Then, after a few moments of panic, the messaging board lit up with the words,

"BULLSHARKS GO DOWN THIS FRIDAY."

It clicked in everyone's heads. "Fucking Ravla messes with our Red and White celebration?" Reggie exclaimed in utmost anger. "They are NOT going to get away with this!"

With Reggie's carrying voice, many of the people heard his exclamation and roared in appreciation and agreement.

Back by the scoreboard, where a small fight had just taken place, Dmitri and DJ stood, defeated.

"They got away."

**Wow this was a long chapter.**

**So, this one introduced a few more plotlines that I'll be addressing in the future chapters. This means war!**

**On that note, I will seriously be needing some minors – especially students from the other schools. Hopefully some football players to cause some trouble during their game, some cheerleaders, a tech-person that was in charge of the malfunctions that went on. And…this is totally gonna give away my evil plans… but someone who is transferring from Ravla to Smarba's. Good or evil intentions. Up to you.**

**I'll also need minors who are in a BAND… a FAMOUS BAND…**

**And, also, if anyone wants to submit more students they can go right ahead. Submissions are still open!**

**That being said, I'll need some new students who transfer DURING THE YEAR. They won't appear for a while. Just like, students who moved over Christmas Break or so. Then they appear for the second half. **

**Plus, join my facebook group. (:**

**Chapter title creds to MOTLEY CRUE from their song GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. (best Crue song ever)**

**Thanks everyone, and review please!**


	7. Authors Note

Hey guys!

Thanks for checking back here but you guys did well. I got my musician, my cop, and my radio announcer.

I could always use more students from Ravla. They'll be always open.

Club workers, too. I got the bouncer from the Roxy, so dancers, strippers, band bookers, whatever you can think of is still open.

As I said, I got my musician, but you can still submit more if you'd like. I won't accept a lot. I do need a couple famous actors and actresses, though. As well as a movie director. This won't come into play for a while but if you submit now... well, I'll feel more prepared.

Waiter/Waitress at a local pizza place.

Sports agent.

And anything else you can think of. Seriously, this is the stretch of my creativity, and I'm sure if you think of anything you'll submit. even if it's something really obscure, like a circus clown or a fortune teller or something, go ahead. If I like the character enough then I'll make a plotline for them. The form's in the first chapter.

Oh, and more MAJORS. They will be transferring after Christmas. Go right ahead! (:


	8. You Take My Life But I'll Take Yours Too

**Keep them characters coming, kiddos. Got a lot in mind, and a lot in store for them.**

"Who was it?"

"I don't know, do I?" Dmitri snarled, spitting out blood into the trashcan. It was late Saturday night and the students of Smarba had gathered into one of the lounges. "It was all dark."

"There were more than two of 'em, that's for sure," DJ added. He was also slightly hurt, but both of were clearly more angry than in pain.

"Let's think for a second," Sandy said very seriously, notorious for her 'thinking.' "I'm not gonna pretend that they're a bunch of morons – they're smart, we know it, but…" she paused for a second. "There's only one of them who can mess with our power without the staff figuring it out."

"Alli," a few of them answered at once.

"I hope it was her that I punched in the jaw," Dmitri crossed his arms.

"I got someone good in the eye," DJ said smugly. "They'll have a black eye for a long time."

"It's not enough," Hunter said. They turned to him. "We need some other way of revenge." He looked pointedly at Gunner.

Gunner seemed to read his mind. "You think they won't expect it? I'd be glad mess with their power too, but I feel like… we need another way."

"Let's poison their water supply," Brian suggested.

"That's creepy," Sandy raised her eyebrows at him. "Remind me never to get on your bad side." He just laughed. "But I agree, we have to get them back in some different way."

"Here's an idea," Sawyer interjected. "Why don't we just kick their asses at the game this Friday?"

The room was quiet for a moment. "I'm game," Dean agreed, and most of the football team also agreed.

"If you can," Shannon said and they all turned to her in rage. "Well, you lost to them last year, didn't you?"

"We didn't have Russ last year, though," Dean said confidently, clapping a hand on Russ's back cheerfully.

"No pressure on me, right?" he said.

"Look, it's late," Sandy said, standing. "I'm tired. If we think of some way to get back at them, great. But if not," she looked pointedly at Sawyer and the team. "You better get at them twice as hard as you would normally." And with that, she left.

Slowly, everyone else followed.

…

They were dressed in black yoga pants and loose black t-shirts, with black war paint and their hair up in buns. It was completely useless, however, since it was the middle of the day in fall in Southern California, so the sun was shining bright. Nevertheless, their appearance gave off some of their devious intentions.

The war against Ravla? No, this was different. In some ways, it was more important. But whatever it was, it was war. And you didn't mess around in war.

Okay, so maybe in this war, ALL they had been doing was messing around. But, that wasn't the point. It was still serious – in the most non-serious way possible.

They had devoured their lunches and immediately gotten ready to do some serious attacking. They approached the two doors to the two classrooms silently, crouching beneath the windows so no one would see them coming.

"You ready?" Sun whispered. At the other door, Nix nodded. She mouthed one, two, three, and they both sprung.

The doors slammed open and they both tumbled into their respective classrooms, doing flips, somersaults, and other random moves just to add to the drama. All they really had to do, however, was make their way up into the front of the room and dump their handfuls of silver into the jar of copper.

Many of the class laughed. Crazy antics like this had been going on all week; the most memorable of which had to be when Hunter, Brian, and Charlie burst into a classroom armed with squirt guns and a working smoke machine and ambushed the class. It was either that, or it was when Russ kicked down the door to the classroom, and half of the football team sprinted into the class with silver coins to cancel out the pennies they had collected.

The two met back outside and let the classes resume working in peace. "They had a lot of money," Sun informed Nix.

"We'll have to get them again, then," Nix shrugged. Both of them headed back to their lunch table where Micah, Marissa, Gabe, Kate, and Claire were waiting for them.  
"Successful attack?" Kate asked when they returned.

"Very," they nodded. Simultaneously, they all stood up and began walking in the direction of the ocean, which is about where everyone went when they finished with their lunches early and were all ready for their next classes. They passed many others and went right up the edge, where the grass dropped off into sand and they sat, with their feet hanging lazily off the drop-off.

"I haven't been in for a swim since I moved here," Marissa noted.

"But you're from Hawaii," Gabe pointed out, smiling. "Surely you got a fair amount of beach time in Hawaii."

"Well, yeah," Marissa said. "But there's something about this place. It's more glamorous, not exotic."

"Well I sure wouldn't mind going to Hawaii," Claire grinned.

"Says the girl from Australia," Kate countered. "But I think we can all agree that taking a dip in the ocean sounds pretty good right about now."

None of them could argue about that as they stared longingly out at the sea. It sparkled in the sunlight in almost a teasing way, the waves crashing slowly as if it knew how much they wanted it. Sun and Nix were seriously regretting their decision to wear all black, as the 90+ degree weather (about 33 Celsius) was pummeling them with heat at that time.

They were in silence for a moment before Nix began to pull off her shoes and roll up her pants. The others stared at her, waiting for explanation. "I think I'm going to… wash this facepaint off," she pointed to the black lines across her cheeks. Sun did not hesitate to follow.

The others exchanged looks for a second. "Better go… check on them…" Gabe said slowly, although they could clearly see them standing knee-deep in the waves, washing their faces with the salt water. They all quickly pulled off their own shoes and rushed into the water. Sighs escaped their lips as they did so; even if it was just their feet and lower legs, it felt extremely relaxing.

"You know what we need?" Kate said quietly as if not to disturb the serenity of the moment.

"A beach party," Gabe nodded as if he read her mind. She grinned to signal that was exactly what she was thinking. "It's going to get cold here soon."

"Cold, meaning like sixty degrees?" (15 Celsius) Nix laughed. "Oh yeah. That's so cold."

"Maybe not, but no one wants to swim in _this_," Micah beckoned to the ocean they were standing it. "In sixty degree weather. It's cold." Nix shrugged; she had a point.

"I say we plan one this weekend," Gabe went on. "Friday's football, so not then. Saturday. All day, all night. It will be so much fun."

Everyone agreed, except Claire, who did not look too sure. "Don't you remember last year? Things got really out of hand," she said uneasily.

"I'm starting to think things always get out of hand whenever a lot of us are together with no supervision," Marissa said. None of them could really argue that.

"I wish it was like old times, where we could just… have fun," Micah said. "We didn't have to worry about the cops coming and busting everything."

"Well if it was just us, it would be like old times," her brother said.

"True, but…" she shrugged.

"It won't get bad," Nix said confidently. The others looked unsure; she was new, she had no idea of the stuff that goes down on Saturday nights. When your school had its own private beach, things tend to go wrong. "If it starts to get crazy when it gets dark, we'll get out of there. No big deal."

"So what do we do during the day, then?" Claire asked her, but it was Kate who answered.

"Swimming," she began, listing things off on her fingers. "Snorkeling. Volleyball. Sand castles. We could go to the Crème Glacée Parlour," Kate added excitedly.

"Does that open this weekend?" Gabe said, just as excitedly, to which Kate nodded.

Marissa, however, was confused. "Why did you just say that in French…?"

"That's just what it's called," she shrugged, laughing slightly. "Mostly we just call it the Parlour. Like how we call the club the Torrent or TT instead of the Tragic Torrent."

"What's the temperature going to be on Saturday?" Gabe asked.

Marissa took out her phone and checked the radar. "Looks to be about the same as today," she said, and right as she finished, a particularly big wave broke beneath them, causing everyone to stumble and Marissa to drop her phone.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, plunging her hand into the wave and pulling her phone out before it was swept away. She grimaced at its state. "Looks like I have to go shopping for a new phone this weekend, too…"

"I think that's our cue to leave," Gabe said, leading the parade out of the water and back up onto the hill.

"I'm really looking forward to this now," Claire said excitedly to Nix as the others fretted about Marissa's phone.

"It's always a party here, isn't it?" Nix asked, though she, too, was excited.

"Oh yeah. Always."

…

At the end of the day, Melody, Zoey, Scarlett, Shannon, Ana, and Alice all met up with the football players when their practice ended. They quickly struck up conversation about Penny Wars and all that had been going on in the past week regarding that, which seemed to be what everyone was talking about. And it was really getting on Zoey's nerves.

"I think it's stupid," she finally decided to speak up, not liking being out of the conversation.

"Really? Why?" Melody asked. Even she had been enjoying the little battles the classrooms had against each other.

"Because I don't get it," Zoey said, shrugging as if it were no big deal.

"Your teacher should have explained it to you," Miles said.

"I wasn't there."

"Where were you?"

"Sleeping," she shrugged again.

They seemed to take this as a legitimate answer, but unfortunately for Zoey, they also desired to spread their knowledge onto her. She sighed as they all delved into explanation.

"That's great and all," Zoey interrupted, her tone of voice saying the exact opposite. "But do you forget that I've only been in this country for three weeks?"

"Haven't you bought anything?" Melody asked in surprise.

"Of course, but I've used a credit card," Zoey rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's simple," Dean said, and if it were any one else Zoey would have told them to shove it. But, she simply sighed in frustration and forced herself to listen. "Each class wants to get as much pennies as possible. They're the smallest amount, one cent, and the only coins that are copper."

"Get on with it," she snapped.

"We can eliminate some of the pennies that other classes raised with the silver coins," he went on, still remaining un-phased by her constant insults. "Nickels can cancel out five pennies, dimes can cancel out 10 pennies, and quarters cancel 25. But even though it's 'cancelling' them in our game, it's really raising more money for the Tragic Torrent."

"It's like math," Sayid added, of course being the one to compare it to something school related. "Pennies are positive, silver is negative. But the absolute value is always positive."

Zoey wouldn't admit it, but now that it was cleared up for her, it did seem like a little bit of fun. "Either way, I don't have any American cash. I told you."

"There's an exchange place just in the city," Shannon said. "You can go there this weekend."

Marissa walked in at this point, glancing around. She didn't know what they were talking about but all she heard was that someone was going somewhere on the weekend. "Don't go on Saturday," she said wildly.

"Why not?" Zoey sneered, clearly indicating that she didn't want to be told what to do.

"Beach party," she explained, to much excitement. "All day long. Tell everyone you know, because we just got the idea for it, like ten minutes ago."

"It's about time!" Dean exclaimed, and most of the people agreed.

"We've only been in school two weeks," Zoey pointed out.

"Says the girl who slept through her first hour the other day," Russ argued, to which Zoey smirked. "Besides, we usually have beach parties within two _days_."

"Well what the hell were we waiting for then?" Melody protested. Most everyone agreed.

"Come swimsuit shopping with me," Scarlett turned to Alice. "I grabbed the wrong one as I was packing and it's too small."

As Alice nodded her okay, Sawyer told her, "You don't need a suit…" At this point, Scarlett threw a cushion at his face, cutting him off while everyone else laughed.

"Speaking of going shopping," Jack said, and the attention went to him. "The tech store has is giving out free Microsoft Points for Xbox today only."

"DUDE! Why didn't you SAY so?" Dean yelled as most of the guys leapt to their feet. Scarlett, Alice, Shannon, Melody, Marissa, Ana, and Zoey exchanged exasperated glances. "Let's GO!"

"Hey, hey, wait!" Marissa stood up. Miles and a few others hung around while the others sped out of there. "Does this place sell phones?"

"Yeah," Miles told her.

"Can I tag along?"

"I don't think so," he said. "You won't like it. You'll be the only girl."

Scarlett gave her an I-told-you-so kind of look as Miles said bye and he and the others raced out of the room as well.

Marissa knew it was only the second time they blew her off because she was a girl, but she was already getting annoyed.

…

Hunter, Brian, and Reggie, who'd usually be in the midst of the party planning and penny bombing, were cooped up in Brian and Reggie's dorm. Sayid wasn't there, but poor Dmitri had to sit there and deal with their arguing. Claire was there too, true to her word she gave Hunter the flyer she'd picked up at the Roxy last week that advertised their battle of the bands.

"That's cool! We should do it!" Brian said excitedly, looking over his shoulder.

Hunter and Reggie looked at him, then at each other skeptically. Claire didn't seem to understand. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be excited."

"Well it's cool," Hunter said uneasily. "But last time we tried to form a band with him was a disaster," he jabbed his thumb in Brian's direction, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"You're just overreacting," Brian waved it aside.

"No, it was bad," Reggie assured. Dmitri, curious, sidled up and also peered over Hunter's shoulder. He snatched the flyer out of his hands as they continued to argue.

"'First place winner writes and records a song with Mirror Image at Gates Records,'" he read and Hunter, Reggie, and Brian immediately whirled around, speechless. "'And also have the opportunity to open for them at Amped Up Festival next spring.'"

"It does not say that," Reggie pulled the paper back out of his hands, eyes bulging as he read the paper.

"Okay, there is no way we are missing out on this, I don't care how annoying Brian is at band practice," Hunter said, equally as astonished. Brian, too, was too excited to be offended by this statement.

"Yeah, Charlie liked that band too," Claire said with a smile.

Hunter's giddiness died down slightly but no one seemed to give any notice. "You told Charlie about it?"

No one, that is, other than Dmitri, who gave a cough that sounded oddly like the word "jealous."

Claire nodded, still completely oblivious. "He and the rest of Drive Shaft were interested."

"Is that their name now?" Reggie said. "What does that even mean?"

She shrugged. Brian was thinking aloud. "Okay so Reggie on drums, me on guitar, Hunter on vocals - ," he paused. "We need a bassist."

"I can play bass," Hunter shrugged.

"I highly doubt that."

"No, really!" he protested. "I can do both at the same time, it can't be _that_ hard."

"Name one bassist who is also a lead singer, who is good at both," Brian challenged.

Hunter opened his mouth for a second but hesitated. "Paul McCartney," he answered finally.

"John Lennon was the lead singer in the Beatles usually," Brian said. "And Paul never really does anything challenging vocally or on the bass. Try again."

After a few moments of more struggling, he suggested, "Gene Simmons?"

Simultaneously, the three of them began laughing. Claire and Dmitri looked at each other and shrugged with confusion.

"Anyway," Hunter said when they overcame their laughter. "I can at least try. If not, we'll… we can find someone."

"But dude," Reggie decided to begin arguing again. "Who plays the _bass_?" **(AN: I take great offense to this comment. Bassists FTW!)**

Hunter frowned. "Good point… we could always find a singer…"

During their argument, Dmitri took this opportunity to steal back the flyer once again. "You really should read the whole thing," he told them. They turned to him. He began to read aloud again. "'The two finalist bands perform a full set at The Roxy Theatre in February in front of guest judges. Two guest judges are Josh McGregor and Scout Drozer of Mirror Image. Two others include DJ Sanderson and Andy Tanner of LA Radio 94.6 The Falcon.'"

This news seemed to silence the un-silenceable. Finally, Reggie said, "Yeah, we'll find someone."

…

After class, the football team mysteriously disappeared and everyone figured they would not be seen until 7:00 that night when the game began. Everyone was sitting around chatting, playing games, Hell, even doing homework to pass the time, which seemed very unwilling to pass at a normal rate.

DJ and Marissa once again could be found at the basketball courts, joined by a random assortment of people who were looking for some form of entertainment. Claire, Kate, Bethany, Sandy, Elizabeth, Sam, Daniel, and Nick were among them.

Though admittedly not the most athletic assortment of people, DJ and Marissa were nice enough not to exclude them from their game and they split into relatively equal teams to play. Of course, most of time they were talking and shooting or passing absentmindedly to each other instead of actually concentrating.

"You going to write a headlining story on the game tonight, Bethany?" Sandy asked.

She shook her head. "Well, the story's going to be there," she said. "But I have someone who actually understands football to write it."

"But you're still going, aren't you?" Claire inquired.

"Of course," Bethany answered. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"You think Ravla is going to try and sabotage or screw with us like at Red and White?" DJ asked to no one in particular.

Most of them seemed unsure but Kate shook her head with confidence. "I doubt any of their people will want to miss a part of the game," she said. "Plus, they're not that low. Last week was a scrimmage, this is serious."

"If you asked anyone on the football team, they'd say last week was serious," Nick pointed out as he passed to DJ, who proceeded to toss it in the basket easily.

"Is there anyone who's going to, you know, not go?" Sam asked and he got stares from pretty much everybody.

"Sam, no," even Daniel was shocked to hear this question. "You don't even have a choice."

"Well, I want to," he said awkwardly. "But I've just never been able to get into sports."

Though most of everyone proceeded to ensure him how much it will be, and how he won't regret it, Elizabeth stayed off to the side, ever quiet and unsure. She was thinking the same thing, but she decided to show up anyway because she promised Emma she would.

"I'm going to have to be asking someone what's going on the whole time," Elizabeth spoke up.

"Don't worry, it's not that complicated," DJ assured her. "By the end of this season, you'll be an expert. Same with you, Sam."

"I've gotta disagree with you on that one, Derek," Bethany spoke up.

"DJ." He corrected before she could go on.

"Right," she said. "I've lived here for about six years and I still don't get it."

"That's because you always avoid the all-day Sunday, and Monday night game parties," DJ argued.

"That's because whenever I ask questions, I get yelled at," she countered.

"You ask the wrong people," he said. "The guys who are way too into it to even blink." Turning back to Elizabeth and Sam, he said, "Look, we all pile into the lounges once football season starts and pretty much stay there all day, order pizza, sometimes even watch more than one game at once."

"How is that possible?" Sam dared to ask.

"There's more than one game going on at a time, so they can fit them all in," Marissa explained, now realizing how much they had to learn.

"When does it start?" Elizabeth asked.

"Next Thursday, the 9th," Sandy answered this time. "Then that Sunday, and always a Monday Night game."

Sam and Elizabeth exchanged overwhelmed looks, as if they were confused already, and Nick noticed. "Look, you'll get used to it. Trust me. Anyway, it's like a requirement to watch."  
"Speaking of watching," Sandy said. "First of our games starts in 20. We have to get good seats."

"Let's head out," DJ said, his basketball under his arm as he led the way toward the stadium that was slowly filling up with people.

…

The fresh-soph team of Smarba had beaten that of Ravla, and it got the entire student body more riled up. It got the team more nervous but more determined, and it got Ravla's older team more angry and vengeful.

Scarlett, Shannon, Alice and the rest of the cheerleaders were already on the sidelines as the team rushed out to the field to do the coin toss. It was decided that Smarba would get the ball first.

The defense, then, went off to the side and Sawyer began talking to the girls. "Nervous?" Scarlett asked as he sat on the bench.

Sawyer shrugged but they could all tell he was. He carried on the conversation without taking his eyes off of the field. "What time are you ladies heading to the beach tomorrow?" he said in a tone of voice that indicated he would rather be talking about anything than the game right now.

They looked at each other and shrugged. "When is everyone else going?" Shannon asked.

"I don't know," he said. "Before one. We're going from the beach to get pizza at one, then to the Parlour, then back to the beach."

"So…let's say we'll go at eleven then," Alice said and Scarlett agreed. At this point, the conversation was interrupted by a roar from the home side and the cheerleaders jumped into their routine as Smarba scored on their first drive. The score was 7-0 as the defense went out onto the field.

Midway through the first half, Dean, after scoring a touchdown, was injured on a nasty tackle and was forced to leave the game. He took a seat on the bench grumpily, ice on his ankle and his arms crossed.

"Good score, Dean," Scarlett offered nervously, knowing he was angry at being taken out of the game so early on.

"Thanks," he huffed. "I'd sure like to return the favor to Jone Fort though." He glared angrily at the large boy who had been the one that injured him.

"Don't even think about it," Scarlett said sternly. "That guy is huge and hotheaded. Bad combination."

"You could just start dating Mary," Alice suggested and even Dean managed to laugh at this. "He totally loves her."

"True," he said, and like Sawyer he refused to remove the field from his sight. "But I don't want Aaron to kill me, either."

"Aaron likes you though," Alice smiled. "He hates Fort."

"Plus, I've got my eyes on… others," he said and Scarlett and Alice shared a smirk.

"Not still going after Emma, are we?" his sister scolded, hands on her hips and a knowing look on her face.

"Not quite," he said, and she was so taken aback that she didn't respond at first.

Alice maintained herself better. "I thought you were just asking out her friend to make her jealous."

At this point, Dean was unable to respond because there was another roar of cheers that erupted from the stadium, and the cheerleaders once again had to do their routines.

They managed to keep a solid lead throughout the first half, and when the band came out to play during halftime, the score was 24-14. Once the game commenced again, the opposing team were unable to get anywhere and had to hand the ball back over to Smarba.

Dean, being Russ's favorite receiver, was now out of the game and Russ was glancing around for an opening. Dean watched as he spun around and narrowly avoided the newly-enraged Ravla defense. "C'mon, Sayid, shake him off," he muttered to himself as he watched Sayid being completely covered by a defender. "Matt, get open," he continued to himself as he saw Matt struggling to get away from one of the other team.

A particularly large member of Ravla's team could not be stopped. His name was Rocky, and he was notorious for being large, powerful, and stupid. Knowing what was in store, Russ just threw the ball away rather than it being intercepted and hit the ground with force.

He did not get back up.

"Not you too!" Dean, as well as most of the students, jumped to their feet. He soon realized this was a bad idea as he felt a searing pain shoot from his ankle and he dropped back onto his seat again. He watched with distaste as the clock was stopped, and a few people walked out to help Russ onto his feet and carry him into the dressing room as Dean himself had done not too long ago.

"This is going to get ugly, fast," Shannon said and Dean did not want to admit that she was right. He gave Russ a silent high five as he walked fast with a dazed look on his face.

…

They ended up falling behind and losing.

After losing their two best players, the entire team pretty much lost confidence and made many careless mistakes. As for Ravla, it was the exact opposite, and they played nearly flawlessly to come back and win.

Disheartened, the students all gathered in a lounge, similar to the way they did last Saturday. Last to arrive were Dean and Russ, who were victim to the coach's long talks, and moving slowly so they wouldn't hurt themselves even more.

The expressions they wore were similar to ones you would wear at a funeral. There was much talk, but it lacked enthusiasm. They shut the door quietly behind them but everyone still turned that way.

"What's the verdict, chief?" Sawyer said, jumping onto the couch and peering at his teammates curiously.

"It's only sprained," Dean said, pointing to a small brace that he had on over his foot. "I should be in again next week if I don't hurt it more."

This seemed to be good news to the team, though Scarlett could not help but think her brother is always getting himself hurt somehow. She didn't voice this, however, knowing that they all needed anything that gave them hope.

"Concussion," Russ muttered weakly. "It all depends on when the symptoms go away. Since I lost consciousness, they guess 3-4 weeks before I can play again."

They groaned, all happiness for Dean's quick recovery forgotten. "Our next few games are easy though," Matt said, pulling up the schedule on his phone. "As long as we practice with our second-string QB we should be fine."

At this, Russ moodily slumped down into a chair. "Ouch," he said instinctively, putting a hand to his head.  
"Don't move so fast," Alice said in a motherly way, to which Tyson, standing near the back, could not help but narrow his eyes.

"Yeah, good luck with telling him that," Sawyer rolled his eyes and turned to Dean. "You still coming to the beach tomorrow, right? Deano?"

"You kidding me?" Dean raised his eyebrows and everyone laughed. "Of course I am. I probably won't swim, though, or really… do anything," he added sadly. Sawyer nodded in understanding and looked at Russ.

"Yeah… probably not…" he answered.

"Oh, you're fine," Alice told him, hitting his arm lightly. He did not respond. "I think you're just using this as an excuse because you're antisocial."

"We'll see," he muttered, sounding tired.

There was a drowsy silence in the room for a few minutes before Shannon spoke up. "So much for that revenge, huh?"

"Shannon, you're a bitch," Russ said with more energy than he had a second ago.

"I'm just _saying_," she snarled. "That we shouldn't sit here and mope and let them get away with messing around with our power last week. And for injuring you guys, of course," she added quickly, glancing at Dean and Russ.

There were thoughtful glances between everyone in the room, and surprised glances that Shannon actually thought of this. "Let's do it," Dmitri said fiercely, still angry for what they did to him and DJ last week.

"Do what?" Sandy said and no one had a real answer. "It's got to be good. Something that will make them regret ever starting this war with us."

Everyone agreed with what she said, but unfortunately no one seemed to be able to think of anything to fit those standards. "It's late," Alice said quietly after no one spoke up for a while. "We can figure it out tomorrow."

Slowly, they all got up and departed to their own dorms.

**There you have it. I've got a favor to ask of you… actually two… first, submit submit submit! Minors are still open but some of the ones I needed have been filled. Second, fill out this form in a review please (:**

**Which OCs would your OC get along with best?**

**Which OCs would your OC clash with most?**

**Which OCs would you like to see your OC paired with?**

**Which OC would make a good FINAL pairing for your OC? (even if you want it to be a canon, just answer anyway. Just curious.)**

**Do you have any more plot ideas for your OC?**

**What kind of pranks would you like to see in the war?**

**Which OC do you want to hear more from?**

**Which OCs can you picture together?**

**What would you like to happen to your OC at the beach?**

**I know, a lot of questions, but I like to pick your brain to see what my readers want. **

**Chapter title creds go to IRON MAIDEN and their song THE TROOPER.**

**Next chapter will be the beach party. I hope, with your answers, it turns out really eventful. I'm looking forward to it. Also, you'll figure out what the students have in mind for revenge… review please!**


	9. My Bad Habits Need A Little Sunshine

**Hey guys. I want to start out this chapter with something very important so I hope you all are reading. We do have a gay character in this story and, in life, gay people face a lot of prejudice and hate. I just want to make it clear that I am not expressing my feelings in this story, and I'm not trying to offend anyone. If any of you take offense to ridicule that may come up in the future, PLEASE let me know. We do have some meaner characters in this story and it is an interesting plotline to have someone struggle with their social status and their sexuality in that way. Thanks for understanding.**

**Personally, I believe that people who be themselves and people who love openly are beautiful no matter what, but like I said, this is not a place to express my opinions.**

**I won't say anything that is just downright bad, but if I hint at it I'd say like "he muttered something that was extremely offensive to this person" and I wouldn't actually SAY it. It won't come up in this chapter but I just want to warn you for the future.**

It was Aaron who came up with it.

It was brilliant, devious, conniving, so simple but perfect, and everyone was so excited to put their plan into action that they wanted to do it that day. But Sandy, ever the voice of reason, reminded them that today was their day off and they had plenty of time to get their plans into action. Besides, they needed time to gather all of the needed materials for their plan.

So, the revenge plot was soon forced out of everyone's mind by the excitement of the day to come. Basically, as soon as the students woke up, they changed straight into their bathing suits, maybe ate a little breakfast, and headed down to Smarba's private beach.

That is, all except for Bethany Collins, who had to finish up her business as head of the school paper. She got her sports expert all set to write about the game last night, and told him strictly to make it completely honest and not trash talk Ravla (well, at least not too much). She finished up a story on the current stats of the Penny Wars race, careful not to expose how much they'd raised so far so it'd be a surprise, and finally, she was ready to hit the beach after hours of early morning prep. She sighed; the beginning of the year was always the toughest.

Bethanystopped in at one of the food court areas to grab some fruit for a quick breakfast, unable to get some before she went to work that morning. She then took off toward the ocean, eating as she walked. Once she arrived, she searched around for someone she could hang with. She decided on Claire, who was practically dragging Sam into the water. He would not go without a fight.

"Didn't you ever swim in Spain? Or France?" Claire was saying as Bethany arrived.

"Well…yeah, but..." he protested, struggling to come up with a good argument.

"Dude, you're in California,"Bethany joined the conversation, offering a warm smile. "It's the law to go swimming in the Atlantic."

"I find that very hard to believe," he said but it was obvious that he was beginning to give up the fight now that Claire had reinforcements.

Bethany, too, was eager to get out into the ocean. The water looked inviting on such a hot day. "Race you there," she said, though none of them ran, they all paraded slowly into the waves.

"Dang," Sam said as his toes touched the waves. "It's cold!"

"You get used to it," Claire shrugged, diving headfirst into an oncoming wave so she was completely under. She resurfaced, laughing. "See? Feels great already."

"If you say so," he said, standing knee-deep in the waves awkwardly. Claire would not stand for that, and Bethany noticed the evil glare on her face. As if she read her mind, the girls simultaneously bent down, cupped their hands under the water and pulled upward, sending torrents of water into an unexpecting Sam's face.

He sputtered and stepped backwards, shaking his now-wet light brown hair and blinking repeatedly. "That wasn't very nice," he said, but nevertheless he managed a chuckle.

Eventually they got him to loosen up and have fun a little and ended up body surfing in the waves until they got tired. Soaked, they dragged themselves out of the waves and onto solid group but with their feet still in the water. "It's almost depressing to think we're still at school,"Bethany laughed as she looked up at the orange buildings above them.

"Don't talk about that," Claire warned her, as she laid down on the sand and closed her eyes. "I'm having too much fun to think about school."

Bethany laughed again as she let the sun rays dry her body. "I am going to be so burned tomorrow," she sighed.

"Bethany, don't even talk," Claire said, sitting up again. "I'm so pale… I think I'm burned already. At least you tan a little!"

"Yeah, but then I look like some mess of pale, tan, and burned, and that is not a pretty sight," Bethany argued.

Claire laughed. "Well, there's nothing wrong with a little variety…" she noticed that Sam had been particularly quiet during this discussion. "Sam? What's up?"

He seemed alarmed at the sound of his name, snapping out of whatever reverie he happened to be in as he stared down the seemingly endless coast of California. "Nothing…"

"Oh, it's something," Bethany grinned. Being an expert at people's personal lives without being particularly nosy, Bethany knew that it was something. She followed the path of his gaze before he moved.

"But which something is it?" Claire inquired.

"Micah? Or Nix?"Bethanyasked.

"I didn't even see them," Sam argued.

"Bullshit."

"Look, they're all the way over there," Sam pointed out. "Doing…whatever the heck they do…"

"Alright Sam," Claire admitted defeat though she knew she was right. "But when you come crawling to us about advice for girls, there's only one thing we're going to say to you…"

Bethany joined in and she and Claire said simultaneously, "I told you so."

…

Micah and Nix, as it turned out, were finding shells and weird sea creatures because they would rather do that than play volleyball, or swim.

"How do you poke a hole in them for earrings without breaking them?" Micah asked curiously, holding up a perfectly sculpted sand dollar and referring once again to her hand-made earrings.

"Not easily," Nix admitted. "Usually with a pin. Those tend to work."

"Hey, look at that!" Micah was distracted, as she usually is, but that's okay because Nix's attention immediately swerved as well. She scooped up a tiny crab that was scuttling around in the shallow water. "He would make a good friend for Howard."

"Who's Howard?"

"My pet squirrel," Micah said casually, stroking the crab that was panicking and running wildly around her hand.

"You have a pet squirrel and I am just finding out about it now?"

"Oh, yes," she said brightly. "He's very friendly. You can meet him."

"I will definitely have to," Nix agreed, and at this point Gabe ran over to them to round them up.

"Hey, girls, we're - ," he paused in the middle of his sentence, looking at the creature in his sister's hand. Sighing, he said, "Micah, put that down."

"Why? He's cute."

"Because we're playing truth or dare, that's why," Gabe said, smiling. Micah and Nix actually enjoyed that game, for whatever reason, and immediately set the crab back in the sea and hurried over to the designated spot in the sand to play the game. A circle was beginning to form and they took seats in the opening spots.

"No limits truth or dare!" Dmitri was saying, waving around a bottle of something alcoholic to get attention. "Actually there are limits… nothing LAME… we wanna have some fun!"

"Amen!" Hunter yelled, giving him a high five.

"Ground rules…" Dmitri said, trying to think but he ended up deciding it was too much work. "No rules!" Some people cheered, others looked as if they were seriously regretting their decision to be there. "Melody! Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she shrugged.

"You ever had sex for drugs?" Dmitri asked. She nodded.

"Well ask something that we don't already know!" Reggie yelled, earning a slap from Melody, though no one really could argue that.

"Dean, truth or dare?" she then said. He said dare. Her eyes glinted maliciously. "How's that gum?"

"Um, fine?"

"Cool. Maybe Emma wants some. Put it in Emma's mouth… but you can't use your hands."

Dean looked pleased with his dare but Emma immediately began to protest. "Come 'ere, baby, my foot's hurt, don't make me walk!" he grinned as the group roared with laughter, watching Emma trudge over to where Dean was sitting. He leaned toward her and their mouths touched for the briefest of seconds before she pulled away.

"Rejected," Dmitri coughed as Emma opened her mouth to prove that she had, indeed, taken the gum from his mouth. She sauntered back to her place in the circle, annoyed.

"Fornell, truth or dare?" Dean asked. DJ looked up and said truth, dreading to know what Dean would come up with.

"You and…" he looked around at his classmates. "Sandy. You and Sandy are the last two people on Earth. You going to reproduce to save the world?"

Both subjects blushed wildly. "To save the world… sure," he grinned.

"That a boy," Hunter clapped him on the rolled her eyes.

"Claire, truth or dare?" DJ asked. After she conceded to dare, he said, "When we all go to get pizza in a while, go up to a complete stranger and talk dirty to them. But in casual conversation."

"Derek!" she reprimanded, shocked that he told her to do that. He shrugged and grinned. "Fine, fine… Nix, truth or dare?" she said truth. "Worst boyfriend. Tell us about him."

Her face grew red very quickly. "Umm, well when I lived in Massachusetts…I dated a guy and turned out he only dated me to make someone else jealous. That someone else was also a guy…" Her friends burst into laughter and she joined in too. "Gabe, truth or dare?" He picked dare. "Call someone pretending to work at a strip club."

He laughed and grabbed his phone. "Who?"

"Our cousin," Micah suggested. "Brendan!"

"Oh, man," he muttered, dialing his cousin's number after making sure Brendan wouldn't be able to tell it was his number. "Hello, Mr. Hill? Yes, it's Mr. Jones, I'm sorry to bother you but at what time did you want the strippers to arrive at your address?" The others could not hear his replies, but Gabe got really into it. "Yes, you did, sir, three male strippers. Yes, 4815 North Hydra Blvd. You gave it to us, Mr. Hill, when you ordered the strippers."

At this point, Dmitri got impatient, or bored, or something, and shouted, "COME ON! I'm already all buttered up!"

The group could no longer contain their laughter and they all cracked up. Gabe powered his phone off. "He hung up. By the way, next time, we have to put it on speaker phone. Marissa, truth or dare?"

She, too accepted the challenge of a dare. "Post a picture of yourself on one of those hot or not websites for three days… and be sure to show us your responses…"

"Gabriel!" she laughed, not expecting this coming from him. Everyone else laughed too; Gabe was supposed to be the sweet, gentle one. "Alright… Sawyer, truth or dare?" Surprisingly he picked truth. "Boxers or briefs?"

"How about neither?" he winked at her.

"Ew. I'm sorry I asked."

"Scar, truth or dare?" he asked. She picked dare. "Your bikini has much unnecessary material," he noted. She looked confused; it was a normal bikini in her eyes. "When we go out for pizza, stop at a store and buy a skimpier one. Then wear it for the rest of the day."

"Only if you close your eyes for the rest of the day," she joked but agreed to the dare anyway. "Alice has to come with me… where is Alice, anyway?"

"She went to go get Russ, because she was mad that he really decided not to come," Dean told her.

"Alice can get a new one, too," Sawyer suggested.

"Umm. No. I won't let you put my best friend through the same torture," Scarlett said, but once again she smiled as she said it. "Zoey, truth or dare?" When she answered dare, Scarlett smiled evilly and said, "I dare you to flash the security cameras at the mall."

"Fine," she shrugged. "But I'm wearing a blonde wig when I do it, and when I get caught I'm telling them my name is Scarlett Luciano."

"Okay. I take it back."

"Don't take it back," Dmitri whined, taking a swig from his bottle. "Or you'll both have to do it…"

"Ugh… then we'll work something out."

Shrugging, Zoey turned to Matt. "Mike, truth or dare."

He looked confused at being addressed this way. "My name's Matt."

"Whatever. Truth or dare?"

"Uh, dare."

"Okay," she thought for a second. "You have to say 'in bed' after everything you say for the rest of the day. And anything else that deserves an 'in bed' after it, for that matter."

"Sounds like a plan," he laughed. "In bed," he added quickly. "Greenberg, truth or dare? (in bed.)"

"You want the truth?" Reggie said, pushing himself off the sand dramatically. Everyone stared at him. "Truth is, I'm hungry. Let's get pizza!"

The group agreed, and also concluded that they'd be putting the game on hold until they get back later. They threw clothes on over their bathing suits and began their walk to the pizza place.

They worked out what they were going to order and DJ approached Claire. "Claire? Don't you have something to…do?"

She sighed, hoping he would've forgotten but knowing he wouldn't have. "So who you gonna seduce, Claire?" Kate laughed as she asked.

"Umm…" she looked around the restaurant for a candidate. "Oh, he's kind of cute, actually," she saw a kid about their age standing across the room. Kate laughed, and shoved her in his direction. She trudged over there; the rest of them followed, looking nonchalant while also listening intently.

"Hey there," Claire said, putting on her best enticingly flirtatious voice. He nodded casually, not thinking she wanted to talk. "So. I couldn't help but notice how extremely tight your pants are."

He looked down at his own skinny jeans, back at Claire, and said, "Umm… Uh, thanks?"

She nodded her 'you're welcome.' "Oh yes, they really do accentuate the lower half of your body."

Micah nearly burst out laughing at this and just barely stifled her laughter. Nix elbowed her. The boy now looked downright alarmed at what she said. "Okay…" he said, his face red.

Claire let the awkward silence sit for a while before continuing again. "So… come here often?"

"No," he said, shifting on his feet awkwardly. "I don't live around here. Just visiting."

"I see," Claire said, feeling slightly bad that she was probably causing this kid to never want to return to California again. "Well, the food is great. I always love coming here when I'm feeling hungry and need to be satisfied."

At this point, it wasn't as much what she was saying as how she was saying it. The raised eyebrows and the soft, sultry tone of voice just made the conversation what it was. "Yeah... that's nice," he said, looking rather uncomfortable and wanting to get away as soon as possible.

"Like right now," she went on. It now seemed as if she was thoroughly enjoying the dare and was having fun with it. "I really just want to shove the whole thing down my throat. The pizza, that is," she added a couple seconds later. He didn't even seem to have a response to this. "It's your turn," she said cheerfully, pointing that it was in fact his turn to place his order. He did not hesitate to jump over to the counter and order.

Claire, too, disappeared from the scene quickly; the fun she'd been having was forgotten and she grew red with embarrassment as she scurried into the bathroom until further notice. Her friends, meanwhile, were doing all in their ability not to laugh at this behavior.

Soon, they, too, sat down with their pizzas and Claire emerged from the bathroom once she knew it was safe to come out. Being teenagers, they devoured their food in record timing and were returning to the beach in no time.

They were met with a surprise.

"What the Hell?" Reggie, never the one to use his 'inside voice', shouted at the sight of the people on their beach. Emphasis on "their." Normally, this wouldn't concern them so much, and they would just politely tell the intruders that this was a private beach and to please pay attention to the No Trespassing signs. But in the case of Ravla students coming and intentionally crashing their beach party, there was no politeness to be had.

There was pretty much an uproar as the students charged onto the beach. There was a parade of Smarba students and only six from Ravla, but they admittedly held their ground rather well.

Leading the pack, to no surprise, was Tracey McQueen. Immediately, the blonde queen bee bitch locked eyes with one Alice Williams.

Standing stupidly by her side was Rocky Stellan, the enormous linebacker who'd taken Russ down the previous night. On the other side was Jone Fort, the culprit of Dean's ankle.

With a smug smile on her face was Alli Rockchester. It was blatant that she had caused all of the technical difficulties from their day of sports and that she was proud of it.

Surprisingly, another member of the group was Tamara Addams. She had a strong and lasting friendship with Emma and they quickly exchanged smiles before Emma grabbed Dean's arm; he needed the support, and she couldn't let him run off and attack Jone.

Finally there was Olivia Wyllie. She was a fierce competitor on the soccer team – for both the guys and girls. Needless to say there was a bit of tenseness with her presence as well.

It was Alice who spoke up first, her hatred burning so brightly that it outshined her usually bubbly, cheerful attitude. "Don't they teach you to read at that damn school? No trespassing," she pointed at the wooden sign.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be here either and get back to your street corner," Tracey sneered in what she believed was a good insult. "Oh, wait, I must have mistaken you for a hooker. I bet it happens a lot."

Melody, apparently, thought it was a good joke too. As Alice stood in her rage, Melody raised a hand for a high-five. "Well said!"

Tracey looked her up and down disapprovingly, then scoffed. "Please. You don't deserve to touch me."

Melody was taken aback for a moment, but her raised hand then turned to a fist and she punched Tracey – right in the face. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek. "My beautiful face!" she sobbed as she ran off.

Many in the crowd were confused at what just happened but they all assumed it was a good thing. "One down, five to go," Hunter said optimistically.

"How's the foot, Luciano?" Jone said triumphantly, sending boastful glares in his direction. He clenched his fists and didn't move. "It's not permanently damaged, is it? That would be a tragedy…"

"No, thanks for asking," he said, his voice dripping with anger and sarcasm.

"I'll have to try harder next time, then," Jone said. "Still got one more game this season to do it."

"Good thing your electricity worked fine," Alli piped up in fake concern. "I heard you had a bit of trouble with it. Not looking good for sports this year, is it?"

"Yeah, we did have some trouble," DJ shot a glare in her direction, but smirking slightly when he saw that she had a lot of coverup on her right eye that was obviously hiding a black eye. "Would ask you to help us out, but what do you know about electronics?"

She dropped the false friendliness at this. "Surprised you haven't tried anything for revenge yet. Given up? 'Bout time…"

"Go fuck yourself," Russ spat venomously, and the others were grateful for this crude comment. None of them wanted to divulge their genius plot of revenge.

"Don't take him seriously, Alli," Tamara warned. "He's had a serious head injury recently and probably doesn't know what he's saying." Rocky laughed stupidly. Russ started forward forcefully, but Alice held onto his arm, pleading for him not to go get himself hurt again. Whether he was going for Rocky or for Tamara, she didn't know.

"Look, you don't belong here," Reggie said. "So you better have a damn good explanation for the cops."

Tamara looked at him, scrutinizing. "Like you'd ever call the cops on us, you've got more to be busted before than any of us," even the Smarba kids had to admit that was true.

"Besides, Liv does belong here," Alli spoke up again, nodding in Olivia's direction. She did not look particularly happy about this. "She'll be transferring to your school in – what is it, Olivia? Two weeks?"

"Yes, two weeks," she said sadly.

All the students hid their surprise at this news, and instead Dean said, "Well sucks for you then. You lose your best soccer player."

"Like she'll ever play for you!" Alli laughed at the idea. Olivia, however, looked unsure at this statement; the expression on her face read, _sorry, but I couldn't give up soccer if I tried. _"Anyway, let's split guys. Get well soon, boys," she said, retaining her fake concerned tone as she, Tamara, Olivia, Rocky, and Jone walked off laughing in the direction of Tracey.

Two things happened the moment they were out of hearing range. The first, was that Shannon whined, "My God, that Tracey McQueen is such a bitch. She really thinks she's all that."

The second thing: Alice, flared up by this confrontation with Tracey, rounded on Melody, taking her crap for the last time. "Okay, look, I don't know or care what your problem is with me, but when _they_ get involved, you'd better be on our side."

Additionally, the conversations that followed happened at the same time. Scarlett, clad in her new skimpy bikini, could not help but say, "Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" to Shannon's statement.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" her eyes narrowed.

"Are you really as stupid as you look?" Scarlett said with surprising poison.

Meanwhile, Melody was not going to take this from Alice. "Who said I wasn't on our side?" she crossed her arms – a bad sign. "Just because she said something funny – and true – I had to laugh."

"Like you have any right to be calling anyone a hooker,"Alice snapped.

And then, at the same time once again, Melody snapped, as well asShannon, and pounced. Before anyone really gathered what exactly was going on, the girls were clawing, punching, kicking, anything they could of each other. Shannon's well-manicured nails punctured Scarlett's skin, but Scarlett's revenge was had when she kicked sand into her competitor's eyes.

Similarly, Alice was dealt with a blow similar to the one Tracey received, while Melody suffered a knee to her stomach.

"Girls fighting in bikinis, how hot does it get?" Hunter muttered to Brian, who burst out laughing and agreed.

Boone, Sawyer, Dean, Russ, and Nick did not agree, however. "Dude, go do something!" Dean ordered Sawyer, pointing at his sister, unable to get over there quickly himself. He did not need telling twice. Sawyer grabbed Scarlett by the shoulder and pulled her away while Boone did the same withShannon, dragging them a safe distance away from each other as they struggled to get away from the strength of their captors.

Meanwhile, Nick showed surprising strength while pulling Melody away from Alice, and Russ dragged Alice away as well, both girls struggling like the other pair of fighters. In her attempt to have one last blow at Melody, Alice drove her arm backward – right into Russ's face.

Startled, he let go of her. Alice, now free, instinctively moved toward Melody before she fully processed what had just happened. She immediately whirled around when she realized it; Russ was clutching his head, looking just as dazed as he did the day before.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked, rushing over to him. "Did I hit your eye?"

It took a couple seconds for him to answer. "Yeah… you nailed me pretty good…"

Matt, just as his dare had required him to do, could not help but add, "in bed." To Russ's statement. People laughed, glad that there was a little humor in the atmosphere, but Russ did not find it that funny.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" he snapped.

"_Russell_!" Alice said scoldingly, punching him on the arm.

"Ow! I'm abused."

"I'm so sorry," she crowed sadly.

"Yeah, you better be!" Sawyer said angrily. "You could put him out for another week!"

"Is that ALL you ever think about?" Scarlett decided to get involved. "Leave her alone, Sawyer, it's not like she meant to do it!"

"Seriously?" Gabe – thank God for the peacemaker – intervened now. "The second they leave we start fighting amongst ourselves. I doubt they do that." Everyone watched him with interest. "I don't expect all the students in a school to get along but this is just ridiculous. This shouldn't be happening. Isn't this our day off? No worries? Leave each other alone and make everyone's lives easier."

An awkward silence followed. Slowly, everyone clustered around their friends, trying to make things less awkward again.

…

As the day wore on and earlier events were forgotten – or at least put aside – the talk amongst students was that Olivia Wyllie was to be joining their student body within the next two weeks. That hadn't happened ever before, a Ravla student transferring to Smarba. DJ, Marissa, Matt, Kate, and Claire headed over to the Crème Glacée Parlour, eager for a cool treat on the hot day. They were greeted by one Tommy Jacobs, who sat reading on a stool behind the counter.

"Hey!" he said eagerly, standing up and looking happy that people had arrived to get rid of his boredom. His long blonde hair gave him a clear California image. "Well if it isn't my favorite customers," he winked at them.

"I call BS on that one, Tommy," DJ said but grinned nonetheless. "I heard you say that to every person who walked in these doors last year."

He laughed, and shrugged. "You caught me," he admitted. Hopping over the counter, he delivered each of them a hug. "Wait, I actually don't know you," he said after he'd hugged Marissa.

She laughed as well. "Marissa Kuroki," she introduced.

"Tommy Jacobs," he beamed. He resumed his position behind the counter. "So what's the scoop, DJ? Not taking a job back here again?" DJ had worked parttime at the Parlour his previous year at school.

"I've also heard you say 'what's the scoop' a hundred times," he pointed out. "It's really not that funny."

"Not the point."

"I think I'll re-apply," he said. "I just didn't want to start working at the same time school started. One step at a time."

Tommy nodded in understanding and turned to Matt. "So what's all this gossip going on about Ravla? I was going to come to the game yesterday but I got caught up in work. College, y'know?" Tommy was in his 3rd year at UCLA.

"Oh, I don't want to talk about it," he groaned.

"That bad?" he raised his eyebrows at the other three.

"It kind of was," Kate said, sympathetically glancing at Matt, who clearly really didn't want to talk about it. "I'll bring you the paper when it comes out tomorrow. Should have a full story."

"Well, not the full story," DJ corrected her, snickering slightly.

"Ooh, tell, tell," Tommy said.

"Not until we get our ice cream," Claire smiled.

Tommy sighed and dished out their orders as they gave them. Then he walked with them to a table and sat down. They began filling him in on what had happened at Red and White, and what had happened just hours ago at the beach.

He scowled. As a college student, Tommy shouldn't care about high school rivalries but he usually took the side of Smarba. "Now, I get Ravla customers here too, so I shouldn't say this," Tommy said. "But they're all no good, them. I haven't met a decent one."

"Tamara is cool," DJ said.

"To you, maybe, but she didn't seem that way," Marissa said. As a 'newbie' she had an outsider opinion to put in. "Girl with the dark curly hair?" they nodded.

"Well… she and Emma are pretty much best friends," Claire explained. "So we know her through Emma, and we get along okay. But I guess when it comes down to it… she is one of them."

"So what are you going to do about it?" he inquired.

"Well…" Claire glanced at her companions.

"Go ahead," Matt shrugged and the others agreed.

"Ravla is a boarding school, like Smarba, right?" Claire began. Tommy nodded. "So people keep all their possessions in their rooms, 'cause we don't have lockers."

"That just makes our job easier," DJ said. Claire shushed him and went on.

"You know our friend Gunner?"

"No."

"Well, he's got a lot of money and friends in high places," she explained. "More like low places… anyway, he's getting us some quick-dry cement and some of us are going to sneak in and pour it over their locks. So they can't get in, or out, of their rooms till it's chipped off."

Tommy whistled. "Mean!" he chuckled. He gave each of them a high five. "Who's the evil mastermind? Eh? I bet it's you," he looked at Marissa.

She was taken aback. "Me? I'm completely innocent."

"Yeah, right," DJ rolled his eyes.

"It was Aaron Alastor," Matt explained.

Tommy nodded. "He's in here with Dmitri Arsov a lot. Pretty cool guys," he said. "I'm surprised more of you haven't come in yet today. Kind of disappointed."

"We were supposed to all come together, but we had a bit of a falling out among… everyone," Matt explained.

"Whaddya mean?" he asked.

"After the Ravla kids left, things got… tense," Matt struggled for the right word.

"If chick fights are tense, then yeah," Kate raised her eyebrows.

"Another story," Tommy sighed as the bell above the door rang, and in came Mary, Gabe, Micah, Sam, Nix, and Sun. Tommy jumped back to his post.

"Hey, we were wondering if you were here," Gabe said cheerfully as he pulled up a seat to the table of those who were already there.

"We're here!" Marissa announced. The others stared at her and laughed.

"Thanks, good to know," he chuckled. "Man, I have gone too long without a Parlour's Strawberry Sundae.

"So what happened to truth or dare?" Marissa asked.

"I think there was unspoken agreement not to continue the game," Mary said thoughtfully. "Everyone kind of went their separate ways."

"So much for our awesome beach party," Claire pouted.

"Well, everyone's having a good time in their separate ways," she offered to try and cheer her friend up.

"What's going on?"

"They're playing football, some volleyball, Sandy took some people and headed off to God-knows-where to play some cards," Mary explained.

"None of this surprises me," Claire sighed once again.

"Well, I heard the word 'volleyball,'" Marissa said, and stood up. She said bye as she and Kate hurried off to join the game.

Micah sat down with an ice cream and a Pepsi – then proceeded to mix the two together. Her companions stared at her. It took a few moments to notice their stares. "What? It's like a root beer float… only Pepsi."

DJ ignored this completely and decided to agree with Claire. "Yeah, I've got to give it to you… this day has been a failure."

…

Nick was talking animatedly with Elizabeth for a while. He played volleyball with her and the others for a while, but after failing miserably for a few minutes, he took a swim, and it felt so good in the heat of LA.

When he emerged, the first person he saw was his sister, who was laying on her stomach in the sand just fingering the sand absentmindedly. He walked over to her.

As she narrowed her eyes at his approach, he knew she must think he was coming over to reprimand her about the fight earlier. He was worn from all their fights, though. He had learned that their arguing is not going to get Melody to quit her rambunctious lifestyle. And it hurt him to be on such bad terms with her.

So when he sat beside her, he said, "Remember that one time we made a couch out of sand?"

Melody smiled at the memory. "And then someone else built a sand TV in front of it?"

Nick laughed. He'd forgotten about that. "If only there was a sand mini fridge too."

"For some reason I can't see that working out," she said.

The two of them began piling the sand together, recollecting memories.

…

Hunter sat on the beach, for once not worrying about getting stoned, wasted, or laid. All of that was important to him, yes, but it all took second place compared to music. And he LOVED Mirror Image – so he was not going to let this contest slip away from him.

It was simple. The first round of the contest was going to be in November. You could do cover songs, so he wasn't worried about that. He, Brian, and Reggie, knew plenty of songs between the three of them. And they were fast learners.

After elimination they pulled for originals. That was where Hunter saw a slight problem. He, Brian, and Reggie were okay at songwriters, but more often than not they'd end up arguing about how something should sound or try to make it perfect and it never sounded as good as they planned.

And this was all if they could find a bassist.

But Hunter was getting an early start. He sat in the sand peacefully with a guitar, not really writing any songs but writing down bits and pieces of lyrics or riffs that he thought sounded cool.

It was going smoothly until a shadow covered up his paper. He looked up and saw a good friend of his, Charlie, take a seat beside him. "Hey, mate," the cheerfulness in his voice seemed a bit forced. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why; he and Hunter, though good friends, had been competing for Claire's affections for the longest time.

"Hey," Hunter replied casually. It was just one of those laidback days. He wasn't too concerned about arguing with Charlie – yet.

"So Claire tells me you're thinking about entering the Roxy Contest," Charlie said all-too casually.

"Not thinking about it," Hunter corrected. "We've decided."

Charlie nodded. "Mirror Image. They're a pretty big deal."

"Yeah. I'm a huge fan," Hunter could not contain his excitement at this. "Josh McGregor is one of my all-time favorite vocalists. He's a huge influence on my own singing."

"Yeah, you know, I can kind of hear that in your voice," he said. Maybe Charlie did want to make small talk after all. "You know, Drive Shaft is entering too."

Or maybe not.

Hunter shrugged. "I figured you would."

"What's your band called?" he asked.

"We haven't really decided on a name," Hunter said uneasily. He wished Charlie would leave.

"I see," he said. "Who's in the band?"

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Hunter said, turning the conversation around. "We're looking for a bassist. You must know one."

Charlie shrugged. "Not really. Hard to find a good one," he said. He didn't seem too concerned with helping his good friend out. "You know, if you're just forming the band now, you may not have enough experience to really get far in this competition."

"It's all for fun, dude," Hunter said through gritted teeth. He did not mean that at all. He wanted nothing more to beat Drive Shaft's ass in this contest.

"True," Charlie said. Hunter didn't think he meant it either. "We've been working on a song, it's called 'You All Everybody.' I'm really proud of it. It's going to blow those judges away."

Hunter's fist clenched around the paper that he'd been writing on. "That's so cool, bro," he said. No more Mr. Nice Guy. "But too bad we're going to blow 'em away more."

"You think so?" Charlie said coolly.

"I know it."

"Well, I'll see you onstage, mate," he stood up again. He began to walk away, but then turned back. "Girls DIG the rock stars, by the way."

"You wouldn't know," Hunter snarled.

"Wait and see," Charlie said. "I'll try to get you front row seats to _my_ concert."

"Pace, girls dig the _winners_," Hunter replied. "When I win, I'll be up onstage."

"It's on," Charlie said, and this time he left for good.

Hunter, full of anger, marched over to where Reggie and Brian were (it appeared that they were throwing sand at each other). "Get back to the room. We have some rehearsing to do."

…

Alice had been getting concerned. Russ kept nodding out if he didn't do anything for too long and was really sensitive to bright lights and loud noises. He assured her these were just normal symptoms of a concussion.

He also insisted on playing football with the guys.

In order to drag him away from the temptation of football, she took him toSanta Monicaas the sun set. The light didn't bother him as much now because the sun was setting.

He was always kind of quiet and reserved but as they sat on the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel, he just stared out into the ocean blankly, not saying a word, and Alice was nervous. "You tired, Russell? I should take you home…"

"Yeah, but, I slept for 14 hours last night," he said as he yawned. "I think I'll be fine." And that was the end of that conversation.

There was another thing Alice was worried about, and her name was Melody. She knew that he messed around with girls constantly, and she wasn't exactly faithful either. But she didn't have to be, right? They weren't together.

But Melody seemed to be purposefully getting on her nerves. She predicted Russ's answer before she even asked the question. "So, what do you think about Melody?"

He shrugged, still staring out into the ocean as he replied. "I don't really know her. Seems pretty cool."

Her guess was right on.

"I think she has a thing for you,"Alice said teasingly, as she would to any normal friend, though really she wanted to know what he thought of this.

"It kind of seems that way," he said vaguely.

Now Alice was just frustrated. "I don't like that," she said, letting the annoyance in her voice show.

Russ finally turned to her at this. She wished he didn't; his eyes were unfocused still. "What?"

"The way she throws herself at you," she said bitterly. "I don't like it at all. I know she does it to annoy me, and because she just wants to jump in bed with you. I don't like anything about her. The way she sleeps around more than the strippers do, how she's always stumbling around high, and -," her rant was interrupted with a kiss. She had a feeling he had just kissed her to get her to stop talking but that was okay with her, for once.

When he pulled away, he asked, "Have you been drinking?"

"A little," she admitted. She managed to roll her eyes before he even made his reply, and beat him to it, "You are such a prude, Russ. Live a little."

"I'll pass," he scoffed as he continued looking out into the endless ocean. They were far enough from Los Angeles that the smog didn't ruin the view of the sky, the stars shone brightly against the dark sky and reflected, shimmering, in the ocean below.

They disembarked the Ferris Wheel as they reached the bottom and wandered the pier for a while. Suddenly, a body emerged from the crowd and slammed into Russ (he really wasn't having a good weekend) on its way to Alice.

Alice could tell she was out partying in the city – she had pulled out one of her short sexy dresses for the occasion, and had curled her hair. But it was all a mess now; her dress was torn and her hair frizzing up, tangled. Her green eyes were wide with fear, and her makeup was smeared on her face – and mixed with blood.

Needless to say, Sandy was a mess.

"What happened?"Alice demanded, her heart sinking for a second at the sight of the blood on her face. But she didn't seem to be injured; Alice grew queasy at the thought that it was someone else's blood.

In between sharp breaths, she managed to say in pure desperation, "I need your help."

**Guys, I am SO sorry for the wait. I hope it lived up to your expectations, because it was a lot of fun to write.**

**And one thing: I know I said that the transfer students wouldn't be appearing until after Christmas, but Olivia is going to be the ONE exception because I want to use her in a plotline.**

**If your character wasn't in this one, I'm sorry, but they will for sure be in the next one.**

**Chapter title creds go to THE LAST VEGAS and their amazing song LOOSE LIPS. They're an up-and-coming band from Chicago and they TOTALLY rock so you should look them up.**

**You should also review. Please? **


	10. Keep Your Eye On The Dealer's Hand

**Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. Hope you like… It's kind of confusing, but basically, the italics are the flashback, and the normal text is normal time.**

**Also, as far as the football season goes, I'll be using the games from the 2010-2011 season, since this year, we may not be getting a season :( Boo. **

_Sandy lounged in the sand, propped up on her elbows. She didn't feel like doing much; the ocean was not very appealing to her, playing volleyball wasn't exactly her thing, and playing football with the guys – she just wasn't going to go there._

_She pulled her cell phone out of her bag to check the time. 5 o'clock. The thought of staying on the beach doing nothing for another couple hours was appalling._

_She glanced around at her friends. Melody was chatting animatedly to Elizabeth, who was doing most of the listening. Zoey was terrorizing anyone who crossed her path, and Gunner, Aaron, and Dmitri were talking with Tyson. They all wore the same expressions of extreme boredom on their faces – she knew them well, they're the group of people who needs to be entertained._

_So she guessed it was her that had to do the entertaining. She managed to get them all huddled in a group to hear her proposal. "What do you say we head into the city and wreak some havoc?" she asked. "Head down to the Afterlife?" The Afterlife was in one of the worst parts of town there was. It was a cross between a bar, a club, a casino, a whorehouse, a hideaway, a drug deal central, and a place for the homeless to hang around._

_Poor Elizabeth and Tyson had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed. Zoey didn't really either, but she would've agreed even if she knew about the Afterlife's reputation. They all headed back to their dorms, and met outside half an hour later._

"Wait, I've heard of that place,"Aliceinterrupted her story. She knew she shouldn't have, but she was curious about the club. "The Afterlife…"

"Terrible reputation,"Sandyshook her head. "I've gone there a couple of times. Usually I don't go anywhere THAT bad… I don't know why I decided to last night."

It was safe to say she wouldn't do it again.

_Melody really had taken Elizabeth under her wing. Elizabeth wasn't sure if she really liked it or not, but she was making friends quicker than she ever would've expected. So why would she complain?_

_Sandy__ called them a cab and they squeezed in as they told the concerned cab driver where their destination was. She checked herself in the mirror as they drove; her blonde hair was in perfect curls (she curled it in record timing), her makeup was excessive and extravagant, and her dress was short, tight, and revealing. She'd fit right in._

_Tyson felt his heart drop as soon as they left the busy part of the city. He recognized the bad part of town when he saw it, because he saw plenty of it on the streets of New York City. The memories of what went down on those streets, with himself, Trey, and Ray were still fresh on his mind, so he shook them away. Nothing like that was going to happen tonight._

_Or so he thought._

_The streets were pitch black, the buildings eerily decrepit with doors kicked in or missing. There was not a window they passed that wasn't broken. He didn't see any people – but there were a lot of dark, skinny, and seemingly endless alleyways._

_It was in front of one of these alleyways where the taxi pulled to a stop. They all climbed out and as soon as the last door was shut, the driver sped off, anxious to get out of this area. With confidence, Sandy headed down the alley and disappeared in the darkness almost immediately. The rest followed; Dmitri, Zoey, Melody and Gunner with confidence; Tyson, Elizabeth, and Aaron with second thoughts._

_Elizabeth nearly tripped in her high heels after her foot caught on the edge of something – which, she realized with a sick churn of her stomach, was another person's foot. She apologized before finding their face; he was slumped against the wall with a needle in his arm and his mouth open, unconscious. At least, she hoped he was unconscious._

_Elizabeth__ led the way through a small door on the side of a building with a half-lit sign reading "THE AFTERLIFE." The others followed her in and saw some form of life in there. It was not the form of life one wanted to find._

_Sandy__ sat down at an open table and whipped out a deck of cards with no hesitation. They all played and sat around for a while. Elizabeth wished the couples in the corners would take their escapades elsewhere, and the same for the junkies. She also wished that the guy at the table next to her would stop his eyes from roaming all over her body. Luckily, Zoey went over to chat him up._

_Sandy__ pulled Zoey back over. "I know you're a tough girl and everything," she murmured as the man looked at both of them curiously. "But I wouldn't recommend going ANYWHERE with any guy here. You're bound to get some disease… and, if not, sold as a sex slave."_

_Zoey, surprisingly, took her advice to heart and promised she was just going to tease the guy and not actually do anything with him. Melody huddled in a corner with some fellow drug addicts, buying some of the good stuff while she could. Dmitri pretty much raided the bar and started getting in fights._

_A crowd attracted and Tyson was surprised at all the money that Sandy was raking in. The people here had nothing else to do with their lives than play cards at the Afterlife all night, yet she was still kicking their asses._

_"Oh, here come the big guns," Sandy muttered as the door opened and closed. Tyson wasn't even sure how the men got through the doorway because they were so huge._

_"That Jensen McQueen?" Aaron muttered to Sandy. Elizabeth and Tyson were totally lost, but Sandy nodded._

"Wait, wait, Jensen McQueen was there?" Again,Aliceinterrupted. The fiery rage she felt at this name could not be contained.

Sandynodded. "That's Tracey's dad, right?"

Alicenodded this time. "Sandy…that's not safe," was all she could say. She knew what he was capable of.

Sandyknew. She now knew it better than anybody.

_"They call that guy 'Lucy,' but I don't know who he is," she replied, looking at the equally as huge guy next to Jensen._

_Jensen approached the bar and pulled out a huge wad of cash and immediately the drug dealers and such flocked to him but he forced them away. Sandy, however, also had her eye on the money._

_"Is this a jack or a joker?" she said somewhat loudly and in a very dumb-blonde type of voice, pointing at a card and looking inquisitively at Gunner._

_"I'm not sure," he said, frowning and peering at the face on the card. Jensen was looking at them suspiciously by now._

_"Maybe they're the same thing," she shrugged and put the card back in the deck. Elizabeth and Tyson glanced at each other in confusion; what was Sandy doing?_

_"Alessandra, don't be stupid," Aaron muttered, knowing exactly what was going on. Jensen took a seat at the table, uninvited._

_"What are you doing at a place like this, girlie?" he asked as his followers sat down as well. "Innit past your bedtime?"_

_"Just having some fun," she said cheerfully. She went to shuffle the cards but dropped them._

_"You ever played any cards before?" he continued questioning her._

_"Oh, yeah. I play a mean Go Fish."_

_Some of the guys burst out laughing but were silenced at Jensen's command. "What about poker?"_

_"Yeah, that too," Sandy said, smiling all the way. "I've played it on the computer before."_

_He smiled back at her. "Well, let me help you out in person here. It's a bit different."_

_"Sure," she said eagerly. "You guys want to play?"_

_"Yeah, but I may need some reminders on some of the rules," Gunner agreed. Aaron shook his head violently, more as a warning, but he was not acknowledged. Tyson and Elizabeth seemed glued to their seats, silenced in terror._

_And so the games began. They watched as Sandy began throwing away all of the money she had just earned, and Gunner spending everything in his pocket with this game. Tyson began to catch on. He tapped Aaron's shoulder. "Is she doing what I think she's doing?"_

_Aaron nodded, looking sick to his stomach. "It's suicide, that's what it is."_

_Tyson's eyes widened at the confused but eager look on Sandy's face; he could see, though, the malice and greed in her eyes that Jensen was blind to. "This is a bad idea…" Elizabeth listened, still looking confused._

_"I want to get out of here," Aaron said. "But I can't just leave them alone."_

_Tyson glanced around. Dmitri was passed out on the bar and some people were digging through his pockets taking his stuff. Melody was high on coke and rambling on to a group of semiconscious people, and Zoey was doing some sort of a striptease. In short, no one was really fit to step up if things went haywire. "Something's going to wrong."_

_Aaron nodded solemnly. "It's about to."_

_He was very right._

_"Look, I'm getting tired," Sandy said and threw in a yawn for dramatic effect. "Let's go all in, double or nothing," she shrugged, digging in her pockets for whatever money she had left. Gunner did the same._

_Jensen chuckled softly. "Sure thing," he said and put his money on the table as well._

_Sandy__ took it all. There was silence at the table for a minute as Sandy collected her winnings, a sly grin creeping onto her face. Tyson cringed in advance._

_"Three…two…" Aaron was counting down._

_On 'one,' Jensen leapt to his feet, overturning the whole table with him. "You little cheat," he grabbed Sandy by the collar and breathed in her face. Her triumph was quickly replaced by fear and he threw her to the ground._

_"I expect to be paid back. In full. And doubled!" he demanded and she, not knowing what else to do, nodded. You know what we do to hustlers around here, sweetheart?" he bellowed so the attention of the whole building was on him._

"And that's what I've come to you for,"Sandylooked up. It was getting harder and harder to hold back the tears. "I need the money for McQueen."

"THAT'S what you want?"Alicecried. "You actually plan on paying him back?"

Sandynodded. "I don't want… anything else to happen. Not because of me."

Shannonput a hand on her shoulder. "Alessandra, you can't go back there."

"I have to."

"No!"Aliceprotested. "You just said you don't want anything else to happen because of you. To anyone. Including you!"

"Nothing's going to happen if I just pay him back."

"You don't know him. Mob business isn't business, it's dirty, it's cheating, it's unfair,"Aliceexplained bitterly, recalling her own personal experience with Jensen McQueen.

"I KNOW that,"Sandyscowled. She, too, had personal experience with the mob, though not specifically with McQueen. "But it should only be dirty and unfair if I let this go on any longer."

"I am not giving you money to go and get yourself killed,"Alicesaid stubbornly.

"Look,"Sandysaid. "Gunner and Aaron could have died tonight,Elizabethwas totally violated, and Tyson got the crap beat out of him as well, so-,"

"Wait, WHAT?" she interrupted, the look of horror on her face indescribable.

"And that's why you shouldn't interrupt me," she said, and continued.

_"It was luck, that's all!" she exclaimed but it was to no avail._

_"Unlucky, eh, that's what I was?" he said, turning to Elizabeth and roughly grabbing her arm and pulling her toward him as she struggled. "I guess your little friend here's going to be unlucky, too…"_

_"Stop!" she shrieked as Elizabeth did too. "Leave her alone!"_

_"Yeah, right," Jensen coughed. "She's a pretty one, wouldn't you agree, boys?" And he shoved her over to some of his cohorts, who greedily began groping her and pulling at her dress._

**The Next Day**

Elizabethwatched the rain pour down from the library window and wondered how quickly things had changed.

Yesterday was hot, sunny, a casual day off with nothing better to do than have fun. And today, rain gushed from the sky with no end in sight. She hoped there was.

But it wasn't only the rain. First, she was a shy girl fromNashvillewho was thrust into the parentless life in the most infamous city in the world. But somehow, she found herself making friends, easily… and then suddenly, she was in the dirtiest part of the city with the dirtiest men in the city, groping her, touching her….

…tapping her on the back.

Elizabethtore her eyes from the window, wrinkling her eyebrows in confusion as she picked up the book that had just fell from the shelf and hit her on the back. "When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron," she muttered to herself. "How ironic."

"Sorry about that," someone said sincerely from behind her, causing her to jump slightly. A tall boy emerged from behind the bookshelf. He smiled warmly, and took the book from her hands. "I knocked this backwards when I went to grab it. My mistake."

"It's not a problem," she said just as warmly. She'd been avoiding people all day but for some reason she found it a relief to be talking to someone. "I was just thinking about how it seems like an interesting book."

"Oh, it is," he said eagerly. He made to hand it back to her. "Do you want to read it?"

"Oh, no thanks," she pushed it back towards him. "You were clearly going to check it out. I can wait."

"I've read it before," he shrugged, and put it on the table.

"What's it about?" she asked curiously.

"Well…" he began, thinking. "Just what the title says. It's how to deal with difficult times in your life." He sat down at the table where she was just at, pulling out a laptop and found a website that was describing it. Reading aloud, he said, "'Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage. Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down.'"

"Sounds like this lady knows her stuff,"Elizabethsaid, feeling better already. The mere description of the book was right. Her whole life had been full of troubles, so things were bound to turn around soon, right? She felt the need to giveLos Angelesa second chance.

"She does," he agreed. "I'm Boone Carlyle, by the way."

"Elizabeth Albertson," she introduced.

"Elizabeth?" he questioned. She nodded. There was an awkward silence. "You should take this," he said, motioning to the book once again.

There was something very knowing in his tone, something in the hesitance thatElizabethdidn't like. "Why…?" she said suspiciously. "Who told you?"

"Shannon," he admitted. Elizabethrolled her eyes, _figures_, she thought. Boone seemed to read her mind. "It's not what you think. Sure, she gossips all the time about everyone, but she's not completely stupid. She's not going around telling the whole school what happened, just me."

Elizabethnodded, wondering with slight jealousy why he was so special inShannon's eyes. "That's not very nice of you to say about someone who trusts you like that," she said casually.

"She's my sister, I'm allowed to," he defended himself andElizabethfelt another wave of relief that she couldn't quite explain. His phone went off, and a nearby librarian glared at him. "Sorry," he whispered and read the text. "Aliceis getting people together to go visit the guys at the hospital. You in?"

"Of course,"Elizabethagreed, greatly concerned. And the two began walking out of the library and out toward the street. As they left the building, Boone commented, "Wow, what a beautiful day."

Elizabethglanced around, looking up at the retreating clouds as her feet squished on the soaked grass. The sun shined brightly in her eyes.

Oh, how quickly things change.

…

Just above those two, on the roof, was Micah. She was letting the rain pummel her, do its best to cause her to slip and slide off the roof. But she liked it.

People in the Midwest and the Northeast complained about the rain and the snow and longed for the clear and hotCaliforniaweather. She didn't understand why they felt this way; a little variety is always nice. It was amazing to her to see rain these days.

The last thing she expected hear, though, was footsteps; clumsy, slipping, but they found their way to her. "Hi, Sam," she greeted him cheerfully. "Come here often?"

"Can't say I do," he said nervously and she laughed. "May I ask why you're out here?"  
"Oh, just looking at the shapes the clouds make," she answered.

Sam looked up at this and immediately regretted it as he was struck by hundreds of drops of water. "Oh yeah… that's a nice flat surface that they're making," he said sarcastically, as the clouds were spread across the entire sky and barely visible. He mentally kicked himself for making such a stupid comment, but she laughed anyway. He noticed that she laughed a lot.

"I agree completely," she said seriously. At least he hoped it was seriously.

"Most people prefer to sit in the library," he pointed out.

"That they do," Micah said. "But they don't appreciate the nice weather."

"Nice weather…?"

"Oh yes," she nodded. "Sometimes it's so hot out that I don't even want to go outside. That I don't even want to do anything. Maybe the rain isn't great either, but at least it's not unbearably hot."

Sam was silenced for a moment; she had a point. "I'll take the sun," he said eventually.

She laughed. "Most of the time, me too. But rain every once in a while is okay with me. Snow would be nice. Then, it's cold and wet, but there's so much to do, and so much fun, that it doesn't matter."

"Well, you're not going to get that here," he said. Obviously.

"Maybe on a vacation," she offered.

"Maybe," he said. And the rain stopped. Just like that. They both looked up and saw a rainbow as the sun forced its way in front of the grey clouds.

"Amazing," she merely said. He had to agree. She checked her phone. "Mary wants us to come with her to yell at Aaron in the hospital."  
"Yell at Aaron?"

Micah nodded. "She's not very happy about where he was at last night…"

"I understand that," he said, shaking his head at the stupidity and irresponsibility of some of his new classmates. A thought occurred to him. "How do you get down from here?"

She shrugged. "Same way I got up." And with that, she hung from the roof, stepped onto a windowsill, and climbed in through the window.

Sam sighed. "These girls," he said. "They're going to kill me." And he followed.

…

_"Stop!" Gunner said, starting forward to help her, but Jensen whipped around and grabbed him by the throat._

_"She's not the only unlucky one," he spat in his face. "You and your little boyfriend can't win all the hands…"_

_"Don't! He's not my boyfriend!" Sandy called wildly. "I don't even know him!"_

_"Sure you don't," he said as Gunner gasped for air._

_"I know 'im!" the guy they called Lucy spoke up. "Aint he the Sosa boy?"_

_"Is that so?" Jensen said quietly, tossing Gunner aside into a table and then kneeling down beside him._

_"No," he managed to say as he went to push himself back onto his feet._

_Jensen merely stood and put a forceful foot down on Gunner's chest, preventing him from getting up. "I guess if you're NOT the son of a multi-millionaire," he said menacingly. He shook his head wildly. "And not the boyfriend of this lovely, _lucky_ lady," he continued, "then no one will miss you." And he proceeded to drive his fist square into Gunner's face as he pulled a knife out of his boot with his other hand._

_Aaron, Tyson, and Elizabeth jumped into action. Many stupid things had been done that night, but this was one of the stupidest: the three of them grabbed onto Jensen's arms and tried to pull him away from Gunner. They were driven to it by the blade in his hand that was now coated in their friend's blood, the blood that was now spilling over the floor as Sandy desperately crawled toward him, crying, pleading, praying –_

_"Who're you?" he said to Tyson. "Is this your boyfriend, then?" he asked Sandy, who was sobbing and shaking her head. Jensen punched him as well, knocking him out instantly._

Sawyer threw out his arm to stop their parade of students from going any further. "Don't go in there," he said warningly.

"Why not?" Scarlett frowned, pushing past him, and glancing through the window into the hospital room. Her eyes widened as she turned around to face the group. "Don't go in there."

"Someone explain," Mary said, getting impatient. She wanted to see her brother.

"Officer Irons," Scarlett and Sawyer said simultaneously. Instinctively,Alicedodged behind a nearby pillar, hidden from view.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" someone said from behind and jumped back.

"Oh, Dmitri…it's just you…" she sighed.

He peered around. "Damn, you brought the whole circus," he said.

"Why are you out here?"Sandyasked.

"Why else?" he said, nodding into the room. "Stuck with Officer I-Hate-Children or out here with some of the good stuff?" he held up his bottle.

"Why's he here?"Alicesaid nervously.

"Probably trying to bust Gunner for something he didn't do," Dmitri shrugged. "Like always." He looked through the window. "I think Aaron and Tyson are pretending to be asleep. Smart kids."

At this point, the door opened and out emerged Officer Irons. He gave each and every one of them a glare but continued walking without a word. Gunner flipped him off from inside the room as he walked away, and his friends piled in as well.

"Is it safe?" Aaron said, awaking from his fake sleep. His eyes landed on a fuming Mary. "Oh, shit," he said and threw his head back on the pillow again.

"I don't think so, bro," she scowled. The others chose to ignore what would soon be a vicious argument between the two.

Sandywandered toward Tyson's bed, unsure if she'd be able to face the others quiet yet. "Tyson, I -," she began pleadingly.

"-don't need to hear it?" he finished for her, smiling sadly. "Don't mention it."

She smiled too, biting her lip. "I just…can't tell you how guilty I feel…"

"Hey!" he said. She stared at him. "I said, don't mention it."

She laughed. "What about him, though?" she asked, nodding at Aaron. She knew he was not a very forgiving person.

"He's okay," Tyson answered, looking over at where Aaron was failing at hiding from his sister. "If he's mad at you at all, it's overpowered by the severe bloodlust he has for Jensen McQueen."

"I don't know what I'm going to do about him,"Sandysighed.

"You can't do anything," he told her genuinely. "Don't even worry about it. You think he remembers last night at all? Totally wasted. He didn't even know your name."

"But he knew Gunner's," she said. And they both looked over there. Tyson was glad to have Sandy's company, glad that he was only sporting a bruised face instead of all of Gunner's injuries… but he wished more than anything that it was _him_ in that bed with Alice crying beside him, running her hands through _his_ hair.

She took a deep breath, brushing his wild blonde hair repeatedly out of his eyes. There was still some blood in it from the previous night. She couldn't believe how carelessly he was talking to Matt about it.

"I blacked out after he nailed me in the face," he was explaining. "So I didn't feel the knife wound till I came to in the ambulance later. Then they put me under again to stitch it up."

Matt nodded. "I had to get 10 stitches on the back of my head once. They're a pain."

Gunner agreed. "My head is kind of scratched up," he said, feeling the spot that was still coated in blood and winced. "But they said it'd heal up on its own just fine. Slight concussion though. Guess that makes two of us," he grinned at Russ. They high-fived.

"When are you coming back?" Matt asked.

He shrugged. "I think I'll be back by tomorrow or Tuesday, but I won't be going to class at all this week. Tyson and Aaron get to go back today," he added sadly.

"That is, if Mary doesn't kill Aaron first," Matt said, and they looked over at the siblings.

_"Don't!" Aaron said. He made his way toward the guys that were now tearing at the short dress that Elizabeth was forced into by Melody, but was stopped by Jensen. And then he did the most unexpected thing yet; he roundhouse kicked Jensen McQueen in the face._

_Silence fell on the room as they were astounded at his bravery, or stupidity, or both. "You're going to regret that one, boy," he stepped menacingly toward Aaron who didn't back down – and the two were soon in a very violent fight._

_Jensen drew his knife. Aaron instinctively backed away, looking around desperately for some means of defense but found nothing. But then, miraculously, at the most frightening noise he could hear, Jensen froze._

_Time seemed to stop in the room, but sound continued, as the sirens got louder. And suddenly, all at once, there was an uproar. Everyone was scurrying around to get out of there, jumping out of windows and hiding in secret floorboards. Within seconds, the only remaining people in the building were Gunner, sprawled on the floor, pale, and drenched in blood; Tyson, knocked unconscious as well, blood-covered face; Aaron, bruised, beaten, panting but still standing; Elizabeth, violated and crying on the floor; Sandy, a complete wreck, sobbing over her unconscious friends; Melody and Zoey, who solemnly gathered around their friends, eyes wide; and Dmitri, his cell phone in hand as he greeted the police at the door._

Poor Aaron looked dreadfully afraid. He stood up to one of the most feared men in the entire city, fought him, and still stood afterward. But when faced with the anger of his normally shy and sweet sister – he was afraid for his life.

"Please do tell WHY exactly you were down at the Afterlife in the first place," she demanded with venom.

"Just hanging…" he answered nervously.

"Really?" she said. "Because we were just hanging at the beach, and none of us ended up in the hospital."

"Technically, you're in the hospital now…"

"Aaron Alastor," she scowled.

"Hey, I thought it was a bad idea for those two to try and scam money out of McQueen," he raised his arms in defense then pointed across the room toward Sandy and Gunner. "But do you think I was about to go and say that in front of him? I'd get shot even whispering the word 'hustle'."

"Sandywas a part of this?" Mary tilted her head with this new bit of information. When she got the text last night, it was from Melody, saying that she just got back from the Afterlife and that Dmitri took Aaron, Gunner, and Tyson to the hospital.

"Yeah. It was her idea to go!"

There was a strange silence thatSandydidn't quite notice but it was broken as Hunter burst into the room, his face a panic.

"Dude, where you been?" Brian asked.

"Around," he said. It was odd; no one had ever seen Hunter that panicked before.

"What's going on?" Claire asked, concerned.

He stared at her, wide-eyed, as if he'd never seen anything like her in his life. "My dad just had a heart attack. He's here in the hospital."

"Well, what the hell are you doing here?" Brian exclaimed. "Go be with him!"

"Right!" Hunter said, and sprinted out of the room as suddenly as he'd arrived.

At this point a doctor arrived and told them that there were way too many people visiting now. "Mr. Alastor and Mr. Grey will return later tonight," he told them. "There's nothing to worry about.

They said their goodbyes and were walking out the door of the hospital when Hunter caught up with them again, his face as freaked out as before.

"What's up?" Charlie asked.

"They couldn't help him," he said. "He's gone."

…

Even after such an eventful weekend, talk of the homecoming dance began spreading like wildfire. Aaron and Tyson returned to school on Sunday night as promised, Hunter disappeared back to his dad's old house for a while. The excitement of the weekend seemed to die down rather quickly, and among the girls, the dance became the subject of gossip, and among the guys, the first NFL game of the year.

And so they piled into the lounge that Thursday night, with Gunner returned among them, the football team all flocked around the TV like it was their life source and everyone else, milling around like any other social event.

"We have to hit the mall this weekend to look for dresses before all the good ones are gone,"Shannonwas telling the entourage of girls – and some very uninterested guys – around her.

"I hate dances," Faraday said very bluntly, to which Sam gave a very supportive nod.

"Oh come on, they're not that bad," Gabe said defensively and they raised their eyebrows at him. "Okay…well… they aren't! But all this fuss really is unnecessary," he admitted.

"Says you," Scarlett said. "All you have to do is wear something semi-nice looking. We have to go out and buy a dress, get our nails and hair done, makeup…"

"That's ALL we have to do?" Sam's jaw dropped. "What are you smoking? We have to ASK a girl."

"Oh, poor you,"Alicerolled her eyes but laughed. "That really doesn't seem like a very hard thing to do."

"You don't understand," Nick told her very seriously.

"Oh, don't I?"Alicesaid and turned to Scarlett. "Do you want to go to homecoming with me?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed to much laughter.

"See? Nothing to it,"Aliceshrugged.

"Being a girl, asking another girl out, as a joke, is way different!" Gabe protested.

"You don't even have to ask someone,"Alicepointed out. "You can go with friends. Or ask someone as a friend so it's not as nerve-wracking."

"Easy for you to say when you've got a guaranteed date," Tyson argued.

"I don't have a guaranteed date," she frowned at the truth of this statement.

"Even if you didn't have Russ, you'd have plenty of admirers to choose from," he said.

"Russ probably doesn't want to go," she shrugged.

"Hey, Russ!" Tyson called.

"Don't talk to me."

"Well nevermind then."

"Ignore him, it's football day," Gabe rolled his eyes.

"It's a big deal,"Shannonsaid sarcastically.

"Just like your homecoming dance is such a big deal," Boone overheard her and countered back with just as much sarcasm.

"It's _homecoming_," she said. "of course it's a big deal."

"I say all the guys boycott homecoming and then the girls will have no one to go with," Brian suggested.

"They could go with each other…" Reggie pointed out suggestively. Nix through a pillow at him.

"So, you boys want to come dress shopping with us?" Marissa asked with fake excitement.

"Hell no."

"Then clearly, our life is more difficult," she concluded.

"Who cares about homecoming? It's like a month away!" Sawyer shouted from over by the TV.

"ONLY a month!"Shannonargued. They shushed her. "Boys…" she rolled her eyes.

"So, Gabriel," Micah began cheerfully. "Who are you going to ask?"

Gabe was taken aback at this question. "Umm… Well… I don't really…"

"Come on Hill, spit it out," Nick laughed.

"I don't see you telling us who you're asking," Melody pointed out.

"That's because…" he began to protest but struggled for a good reason.

"That's what I thought," she said smugly.

"I think we may know who Sam's asking," Claire said, elbowingBethanyas they remembered the conversation the other day at the beach.

"We may… got a fifty-fifty shot at a guess," she agreed. Sam gave them a warning look.

Thankfully for him, the questioning looks could go unanswered because the avid sports-watchers all began yelling at them to be quiet as the game began. The rest of them rolled their eyes but complied, trying to carry on their conversation without pissing off the others.

**Short chapter but I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it. So what do you think should go down at homecoming? Who should go with who? Also, I'm taking a vote:**

**Should Alice give Sandy the money to pay back McQueen or not? Either way, the result will be interesting. So be sure to leave that in a review (:**

**Title creds go to MOTLEY CRUE and the lyrics from their song KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE MONEY**


	11. If I Think It's Lame To Dance?

**I know, I suck. Don't remind me.**

Melody was bored, but thankfully there was another home football game that night to give her something to do. Not that she was relatively interested in sports, but there were a hell of a lot of hot guys there. Too bad that they were usually wearing helmets and she couldn't see their faces.

_Speaking of hot guys_, she thought as she found herself arriving at the stadium early. Poor Dean and Russell were bitterly sitting in the front row of the stands, not talking. Dean's foot was propped up on the fence in front of him. Privately wishing Dean wasn't there, she took a seat on the other side of Russell.

"Hey," she said, smiling, and got a glance in her direction for a response. She supposed that was a greeting. "You okay?" she asked though she already knew he was not.

"No," they both answered simultaneously. And that was it. Melody crossed her arms and sighed. No one said getting to Russ would be easy.

But, it wouldn't be as fun if it was easy.

"You know, it probably wouldn't be as bad if you didn't show up to all the practices still," Melody pointed out.

They stared out onto the field as they answered. She wondered what was so interesting about the empty field, as the team was getting talked to by the coach. "You can learn a lot from watching, actually," Dean said.

"Yeaaaaah," she said. She smiled seductively as she said, "But surely there's _something_ that you'd rather be doing?"

"There's a lot of things I'd rather be doing," Russ said blandly. Melody was starting to get annoyed now. What was the point in the suggestive smiles if he wasn't even going to look at her?

"Well, _I_ can think of a few," she said, stubbornly persistent. Dean peered at her in curiosity but it went unnoticed.

Slowly, the stands around them began to fill with students as the other team arrived and they, along with the cheerleaders and home players, began their warm-ups. "Not causing trouble, are we, sis?" Nick's voice said from behind them.

She turned and grinned. "Of course not!"

Nick shook his head. He knew exactly what she was up to and he couldn't stop her. He and Dean shared and exasperated look. He saw the expressions on both his and Russ's face. "You do realize that you guys are going to win, right? Despite everything?"

"Yeah, but we'd win _better_ if we were playing," Dean informed him. Nick laughed but he knew that Dean was right.

"Maybe it's better to show them a little mercy," he offered and this time Dean laughed.

Meanwhile, Melody was not giving up her fight. "What are you doing after the game?" she asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

"Probably celebrating the victory," he shrugged.

"I think I'll have to join you in that," she hinted. She did not object to scooting closer to the boys as the front row seats filled up in seconds.

"You should," he agreed and she was grateful to actually get a decent response out of him. But soon the game began and then nothing else mattered to him.

Dean kept an eye on them the entire time. Sometime during the second quarter, he tapped Alice on the shoulder as the cheerleaders stood in front of them, in the sidelines. She turned around. "You're going to want to watch your little friend here," he muttered quietly, nodding to his right. Her eyes followed his indication and suddenly narrowed when she saw Melody.

"Be my spy," Alice ordered and he nodded.

…

During halftime, someone forced their way into the seat beside Claire, Brian, and Reggie with a large pop and a hot dog. "Hunter!" Claire exclaimed as she looked over. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, do you want to go to homecoming with me?" he said casually.

It all sounded like one sentence to Claire and took her a minute to decipher and process it in her mind. "Uh… yeah! I'd love to!" she answered.

"YEAH! GET SOME!" Brian yelled and high-fived his friend. They both laughed. Many heads turned in his direction at his exclamation. "Umm… get some… touchdowns! Yeah! Go team!" he sat down again awkwardly.

"Brian, you're so embarrassing," Claire said through her laughter.

"You love me," he merely stated.

"Maybe, but I can't be seen with you."

…

Nearby, another person forced their way through the stands and collapsed onto the bleachers. "Where you been, Gunner?" Aaron asked curiously.

"Getting stuff done," he said shortly, simply, as he instinctively put a hand on his injury. He was not supposed to be active seeing as he was just released from the hospital (and earlier than they would have liked), but he completely ignored that.

But the mischievous gleam in his eyes did not go unnoticed. "You're up to something," Sandy said. It was not question.

"It was his idea," Gunner said as his excuse, nodding toward Aaron. Slowly, they all understood: their revenge plot was put into action.

…

A few miles north of them, Ravla was hosting a home football game of their own, and winning by a long shot. Also similarly to their rivals, they were missing two of their key players; Jone and Rocky were stumbling into the locker rooms at halftime.

"Where have you two been?" the coach demanded of them.

"Stuck in the dorm room," Jone said with much embarrassment.

"And how the Hell do you manage to get trapped in your own dorms?" he kept asking.

"Well… it seems that someone poured quick-dry cement over our doorknobs," he answered, expecting laughter, but his fellow teammates all scowled with disgust.

"They did that to every room in the whole school," someone said angrily. No one asked who 'they' were.

"They can't get away with this," Rocky said and the whole locker room cheered.

"Think of your little revenge plots later, Stellan," the coach said. "We've got a game to win. Get dressed."

The two latecomers scurried to their lockers.

Only to find that their locks were coated with cement.

…

Later that night, Emma was skipping out on post-game celebrations to hang out with her friend, Tamara. Because she was from Smarba and Tamara was from Ravla, they really didn't get to see each other that often, and usually not when their other friends were around. Since tonight, both teams would be celebrating a victory, they figured it would be safe to go catch up on each others' lives.

Emma seemed to be sitting at the Parlour forever, chatting with Tommy, by the time Tamara walked in. She gave her friend a quick hug. "Sorry I'm kind of late…" she apologized. Emma raised her eyebrows. "Okay I'm really late. But I have an excuse!"

"Oh yeah?"

"I was trapped out of my dorm," Tamara explained. "I was at the game, and then I went back to change and stuff, but I couldn't get in because the lock was sealed shut with cement!"

At this point, Tommy began laughing uncontrollably behind the counter and even Emma couldn't contain her laughter either. Tamara looked back and forth between them, confused. "Am I missing something?" she asked finally.

"It was us," Emma said breathlessly.

"What!" she exclaimed in outrage.

"Well, you didn't expect us to just sit there and take it when you cut up our fuses, did you now?" Emma began laughing again. Slowly, Tamara joined in.

"I doubt that we're going to let this slide, either, though," Tamara said eventually.

"Oh, I don't expect you to," Emma shrugged. "In fact, we're already brainstorming ways of revenge for next time you strike back."

"But it's all in good fun," Tamara said.

"That's the biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life," Emma said. "I doubt either of our schools will stop until someone gets hurt."

"From what I've heard, someone at your school did already get hurt," Tamara pointed out and this swept the smile off of Emma's face immediately. "What happened?"

"I don't know exactly," Emma frowned. "The local gambler, whore, druggie, alcoholic, badass, and rich kid all headed out into the city and got into some trouble. That's all I need to know."

Tamara was surprised at how little Emma knew about this incident. "That's all?"

She shrugged. "Something about Sandy and Gunner trying to hustle money off of the city's mafia leader. He wasn't too happy about that. He beat the shit out of Tyson, Aaron, and Gunner."

Tamara nodded. That wasn't any more than she already knew, but she wanted to check with someone trustworthy… the boastful stories of Tracey McQueen have been known to be slightly exaggerated. "Yeah, his daughter hasn't stopped talking about it. Thinks it's the funniest thing in the world."

"Who?"

"Tracey," Tamara said, not expecting to see the surprise on Emma's face.

"Wait, Tracey's _dad_ is the guy who they tried to hustle?" Emma gasped.

"Yeah," Tamara nodded. "But you didn't hear that from me. Everyone's been asking Tracey how she knows all of this stuff about what happened, but unfortunately she's smart enough not to spill that her dad's part of the mafia."

"Well how do you know?" Emma said though she knew the answer before Tamara said it.

"My mom," she said simply. Her mom, Jen, was how the two of them met; as Emma got more and more into acting, she starting meeting the big-shot directors, stars, and managers. Jen was a manager of musicians, primarily, but Emma still knew her fairly well, especially since Tamara and Emma were now close friends. How she knew about McQueen's second lifestyle, she had no idea, but Jen generally knew these things.

"How's she been?" Emma asked, eager to change topics.

"Okay, I guess," Tamara shrugged, playing with the spoon in her ice cream dish. "With school, I don't hear from her very much. Plus, she's getting busier."

"Yeah? That's good for her, though," Emma said, knowing that Jen was a person who liked to be busy.

"I'm not sure it is," Tamara said sadly, but there was a hint of laughter on her face. "Have you heard of the LA band called Mirror Image?"

"Of course," Emma nodded.

"Well their old manager quit, so she took them on," Tamara said. "She had no idea what she was in for."

Emma decided she didn't want to know. "Aren't they doing that thing at the Roxy? The contest thing?"

"I think so," Tamara answered.

Emma nodded. "You should enter that!" Her friend was very musical, very talented, and very eager to have her talents recognized.

Tamara laughed. "I don't have a band," she said. "Plus, I think that I'm not as… hardcore as what they're looking for."

"But you're -," Emma began, but Tamara cut her off.

"Tell me, Wilson," she said with that sly smile on her face. "When is your homecoming?"

"October 9th," Emma answered, reluctantly letting the subject drop. "Why? You asking me?"

"Yes," Mara rolled her eyes. "I'd be honored to have you as my date for homecoming. But seriously, who have you got in mind?"

"Oh… I don't know," Emma shrugged, but the dull blush creeping onto her cheeks said otherwise. It was now common knowledge among the students that Hunter and Claire were officially going together, and more recently, Sawyer and Scarlett.

"Why won't you tell me?" Tamara said.

"You don't know him," Emma said, refusing to let herself believe that she'd actually want to go homecoming with anyone specifically. "Why do you care so much anyway?"

"Well…honestly… I was wondering if…" Tamara muttered, her turn to be embarrassed.

"You've got the hots for someone at _my_ school," Emma said with eager realization. "Who is it? Sawyer? Russell? Dean? Reggie?" She quickly listed off the best-looking, most popular guys at her school. At no response from these first four, she continued with her list. "Hunter? Charlie? Boone? Brian?"

"I don't know his name, he's just kind of cute, kind of sporty, seems like a good guy…" Tamara said, shrugging as if it were not a big deal. Emma's eyes begged for more detail. "Brown hair, brown eyes. Freckles. Freakishly tall."

"GABE!" she shouted as she realized.

"Shut up!" Tamara hissed, glancing around the Parlour but seeing only Tommy, behind the counter. "Are you crazy?" Emma whispered her apology. "But anyway. Gabe? Gabe what?"

"Gabe Hill," Emma went on, her tone much quieter now. "Pretty much the nicest guy on the planet. And yes, he's single," she added as Tamara had opened her mouth.

Tamara pretended to be uninterested. "Ah, cool. Well, it's not like a guy from your school would ever go out with a girl from mine." She checked her phone. "I better go. Promised Alli I'd join in some celebration for football." The girls hugged and said their goodbyes.

…

"That's pretty hardcore," Reggie said as their first bassist, Joe, suggested the band name.

"I like it," Hunter nodded.

"It's like… a metal battalion," Brian said in awe. They stared at him. "Metallion. Yeah. I like it too."

"Cool," Joe said, leaping to his feet. "Well, I got to go visit my wife in jail. See you guys later."

They stared as he darted out the door. "Dude, we need to get a new bassist," Reggie said as soon as the door shut behind him.

"I know," the other two said in unison. Brian continued, "But he's the only one we could find on short notice. As soon as we find someone else, he's out."

"Just hope that's soon," Reggie said and Brian agreed.  
"I want to do So Far Away for the first round of auditions," Hunter blurted out randomly and they both stared at him.

"Umm… what?" Reggie questioned. "By Avenged Sevenfold?" Hunter nodded. "Isn't that kind of… weak?"

"Dude, Avenged is anything but weak," Hunter jumped to their defense.

"I know, I know, they're awesome, don't get me wrong," Reggie said quickly. "But So Far Away is slow and just not very impressive to play, y'know? We could do Unholy Confessions, if you're up for the screaming, that's…"

"I want to do So Far Away," Hunter interrupted. "It's not always about the fastest double bass and the most shredding and the heaviest riffs. Sometimes it's about the emotion. The message."

Brian and Reggie were silenced for a second at this rare moment of sensitivity from Hunter. "Are you okay, man? You've been kind of quiet since you got back," Brian asked.

"My mom wants me to move in with her," he responded immediately, blankly, robotic. Their mouths dropped open.

"But like… I thought she lived in a van that travelled with a bunch of other hippies and protested across the nation," Brian said.

"She does…" he said in that same monotonous voice. It was scary from Hunter.

"That can't happen," Reggie said confidently. "As long as you're here, you have somewhere to stay. And over the summer, you can move in with me!"

"Yeah, try telling the psycho mother that," Hunter sighed.

"She won't even let you finish this year?" Brian asked.

"She thinks that I came back today to pack my bags and leave," he informed them.

"To Hell with that!" Reggie said, throwing his drumsticks to the ground angrily. "You are not going anywhere."

"Not if I can help it," Hunter said with as much confidence as he could muster, but there was a little sadness in his voice still. It lingered in their silence for a few seconds. "I want to win this. More than anything."

"Let's do it," Brian nodded.

"So Far Away?" Reggie asked.

"So Far Away," Hunter nodded.

"One…two… one, two, three, four…" he counted.

…

Ever since returning to school in the dead of the night last Saturday, Sandy had been very jumpy, paranoid for herself but moreso for her friends: Tyson, Aaron, and Gunner.

He approached her one day and said, "Hey Sandy, a couple of us are heading out to the city to get some Tommy Burgers - ,"

"No!"Sandy exclaimed before he could even ask. Gunner raised his eyebrows. "I mean, well, are you feeling up for it?" she asked.

"Sandy, I'm fine," Gunner sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time. It had been a week and a day since the adventure in Los Angeles.

"For now," she muttered. Gunner just rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm going now, feel free to join us," he said shortly, turning and leaving through the door he'd just entered through. Sandy sighed and got up and followed him.

"Gunner, I don't think you should…"

"I know you don't think I should," he said, clearly frustrated. "But I'm going to. What could possibly happen?"

Sandy opened her mouth for her argument but nothing came out. Gunner waited for a second. "I need money," she said finally, not sure where this had come from.

Gunner did not seem to know either. He gave her a confused look. "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

"I'm thinking… wait, what?" Sandy said.

"It was an empty threat," Gunner went on. "McQueen's got so much money that he doesn't know what to do with it."

"I know, but -,"

"He was also drunk and probably doesn't even remember a thing."

"I know, but -,"

"And even if he does," Gunner interrupted one last time. "He doesn't know where to find you. You were all dressed up that day and if he saw you walking by on a casual day he wouldn't recognize you. He didn't even know your name."

"But he knew yours," Sandy said.

Gunner stopped in his tracks. "Is that what this is about?" Sandy nodded. He resumed his walking. "Why didn't you ask me earlier?"

"Because... Because I was afraid," Sandy admitted. "I thought you'd be mad at me, I thought you'd hate me for almost having you killed..."

"I don't want to hear it," he interrupted. "Don't worry about me, Alessandra.

"Well I'm going to," she said stubbornly. "I already asked Alice, and she won't -,"

"What about Alice?" a voice said, none other than Alice herself, who was emerging from her dorm room with Scarlett. They were part of the group that would be going to get burgers with Gunner.

"She's pestering me for money," Gunner answered before Alice could.

Alice sighed. She'd heard it several times in the past week. Sandy would just not let it go. "Sandy, just listen to us, okay? We know what we're talking about."

"No, you don't! You weren't even there," Sandy was getting frustrated.

"I appreciate your concernSandy, but I'm not even worried," Gunner agreed. "So there's no reason you should be."

"Since when do you ever worry about yourself though?" Sandy protested, and Alice even had to silently agree with that one. "McQueen knows who you are Gunner, and he's not going to forget any time soon, you heard that Lucy guy say your name."

"Okay, okay!"Alice said, finally hearing enough of it as they approached the rest of their group. "You win. But I'm paying him. You're not going back there. And neither are you," she added fiercely as Gunner opened his mouth to protest.

"Let me go," Scarlett said randomly from beside them. They turned to her.

"What?"Alice said finally.

"I'll go. I'll bring him the money." Scarlett said very seriously.

"No, Scarlett, Alice, you two have nothing to do with it,"Sandy said. "The whole point is that I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me."

"Look, I don't even want to talk about this anymore,"Alice waved her comment down. "Let's just go and get these burgers. I'm freaking starving."

Reluctantly the subject was dropped, but for Scarlett it was not going to end that easily.

...

The burger joint was so small that it could not fit the entire Smarba group so they elected to go to a park and eat there instead. Tyson sat beside Matt, Jack, and Juliet as they relaxed at a picnic table.

"Aren't you guys going to play?" he asked Matt and Jack, nodding over to the group of boys who'd just initiated a game of football.

"No way man," Jack laughed. "You think we don't get enough of that during the week?"

"Seriously," Matt agreed exasperatedly. "It's only these lunatics that seem to appreciate the pain and sore muscles," he nodded at the group of boys that included Sawyer, Russ, Dean, and Sayid.

"Can't blame Russ and Dean for wanting to play though," Jack said sympathetically.

"Can't blame Alice and Scarlett for getting pissed off because they want to play injured," Juliet added.

"True that," Matt agreed, and noticed that Tyson had kind of trailed out of the conversation. He was staring off into the distance at the mention of the last two names. "Dude, just ask her out. Homecoming's coming up. It's perfect."

"Perfect chance to get my ass kicked by El Capitano?" he said, watching as Alice angrily consented to letting Russ play football despite his injury. "No thank you."

"You really don't have anything to worry about with him," Jack said. "We've known the guy for a year now, and let me tell you… he's…"

"He's an asshole," Matt finished bluntly. "And I'd bet good money that he won't even ask her to homecoming. But someone else will. She's got a lot of admirers. So you'd better do it soon."

"Yeah, I might," Tyson said, sounding slightly reassured. "But I don't know. I don't know her all that well and I wouldn't know what to say."

"Just go for it, bro," Matt said. "It's easy… Hey Juliet, how'd you like to go to homecoming with me?" he asked.

"I'd love to," Juliet laughed.

Matt shrugged. "No problem," he clapped Tyson on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you know, I think I will ask her," Tyson said confidently.

"Now?" Juliet asked.

"Hell no!" Tyson answered and they laughed.

Nearby, Gunner was informing the students about a party that he was going to be holding the following weekend at his house. "My parents are going to be out at some important-people party all night so I figured it would be a perfect opportunity," he explained, to much celebration from the rowdier bunch.

"I don't think I can make it," Emma said sadly.

"Why?"

"Probably going to the same 'important-people party' that your parents are going to," she guessed.

"But you're not important?" Dmitri said in confusion.

She hit his arm lightly. "I love you too Dmitri."

And in another part of the park, Reggie was walking around quietly and alone. Now if you knew Reggie at all, you'd know that Reggie is rarely quiet, rarely alone, and seldom both at the same time. And taking in consideration that there was talk of a no-supervision party at a mansion going on and he was missing it… well, you get the point.

Reggie was up to no good.

And he soon found his victim. Shannon, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, and Melody were all sitting on a bench gossiping over whatever the latest gossip was. Wondering vaguely for a moment why Melody was included in this group (she always jumped around), he approached them.

It was like magic. The cease of their talking was instantaneous as Reggie joined their little social circle. It was as if their vocal chords stopped functioning as soon as a male entered the vicinity.

"What are we talking about here, ladies?" he said in his most falsely charming voice that none of them fell for.

Again, magic. "Nothing," they all said at the same time. He wondered whether their brains were wired together somehow.

"Well as fascinating as that sounds," he said slowly. "I'm going to take a stab at what you were really talking about. Homecoming?" Their silence astounded him. "Boys? Dates?"

"Which one is your guess?"Charlotte asked boldly.

Reggie laughed. "Touché. You have dates yet? Surely someone's asked you beautiful women by now."

"If you're asking one of us, Greenberg, then get to the point," Ana Lucia snapped.

"Me? No," Reggie said in surprise. "But I know that a friend of mine," he said, turning to Shannon now and completely ignoring the other three. Finally he was getting to the point that he had come over for. "- Brian – who would be honored to take you as his date for homecoming."

Shannon looked surprised at this, which Reggie didn't understand because he thought it was common knowledge that Brian had the hots for Shannon. "Yeah. I'd like that," she answered.

"Great!" Reggie jumped to his feet. "It was nice talking to you!" and he ran off in the direction that he came.

And then he froze. Sometimes he could get so focused on doing something – like hooking up Brian and Shannon without them knowing – that he would forget what is most important in life.

Such as spying on girls.

So he turned back, just as quietly as he had approached before. Being as tall as he was, it was difficult for him to hide, but he was thrilled to see that the girls had become so engrossed in their conversation again that he was able to skulk in the background without being noticed.

Ana Lucia was clearly unhappy. She wasn't exactly a cheerful girl to begin with but she was even more agitated now. Reggie was eager to find out why. It didn't take long.

"I heard they're just going as friends," Melody offered.

"Oh, bullshit," Ana scowled. "You know as well as I do that Scarlett's liked Sawyer for the longest time."

"That doesn't mean that he feels the same way though," Shannon tried to reassure her.

"And since when has Sawyer been known to turn down a pretty girl that throws herself at him?" Ana questioned bitterly.

Reggie felt that this was a little harsh. Scarlett was too sweet to be throwing herself at anyone (and plus, if she threw herself at guys, Reggie would have known about it a long time ago).

"Look, it doesn't even matter," Ana was saying dismissively. "It's really not a big deal."

"Honey, if you feel that strongly about it," Melody said with a glint of malice in her eyes. Reggie braced himself for what Melody was going to say next. "Then you better do something about it."

"Like?"

"Oh, I don't know," Melody said. "But revenge is sweet in all forms."

"For example," Charlotte said, also sounding mischievous. "How much would Sawyer like her if she was, say, bald?"

"Or had green teeth," Melody suggested.

"Or smelled like a skunk," Shannon threw in.

Reggie figured he had heard enough. He did not want to know what the girls would come up with as 'revenge' for Scarlett. He made a mental note to warn her.

He found his friends again and sat beside Charlie and Brian. "Where you been?" he asked.

"Hot date," Reggie answered casually.

"Oh, yeah?" Brian asked skeptically. "With who?"

"Not for me, dude," Reggie said. "For you!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Brian demanded.

"I asked Shannon to homecoming for you! Just like you asked!" Reggie said.

"What the-? I never asked you to do that!" Brian exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Reggie said. There was an awkward silence. "Well she said yes!"

"Oh, Reggie," Brian said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You're _welcome_," Reggie said.

"What about you, then?" Brian asked. "Who are you going with?"

"Me?" Reggie asked in surprise. This happened every year, it seemed. He got so caught up in getting everyone 'together' that he forgot that he would need a date for himself. "Didn't think of that…"

"What a surprise," Brian rolled his eyes.

Reggie shrugged, not worried by any means. "I'll think of someone. There are plenty of girls to choose from."

…

Little did he know, the amount of girls to 'choose from' was about to get smaller.

Nick, too, was out wandering by himself. But unlike his classmate, he was not being mischievous. He was merely wandering.

And though he was not being mischievous, he was, in fact, looking for trouble.

He soon found her. He saw her sitting on a swing, laughing, as a younger child ran away crying. He did not want to ask.

At least, not about that.

Nick sat down in the swing next to her as her laughter subsided. She shot him a look; he couldn't figure out if it was a good look or a bad look. "May I help you?" She said in a voice that clearly stated she did not want to help anyone but herself.

"Just wanted to say hi," Nick shrugged, not phased at all by her rudeness like most of their classmates were. He actually found Zoey intriguing, and felt that there was more to her than meets the eye.

"Well, hi," she said shortly, looking down at the ground and kicking some rocks around as she wrapper her arm around the chain of her swing.

"And I was also wondering if you were interested in coming to homecoming with me," he added, not really sure where that had come from. Sure, he found Zoey to be an interesting character, but all in all he did not know her very well.

Zoey seemed as surprised as Nick was. Yes, they really didn't know each other, but from what she did know, she could assume that he really wasn't her type. He was the nice guy. The smart guy. The caring guy. Zoey was everything but that.

"Yeah," she said. Both of them were surprised at themselves and the conversation that had just ensued. The silence was uncomfortable.

"Well, this is awkward," Nick said finally.

"Got that right," Zoey agreed.

"You going to Gunner's house next weekend?" Nick asked, though he already knew the answer as she nodded. If it was a Sosa party, then everybody was going to be there. "Cool. You're going to have a blast; he always makes it a lot of fun."

"_I_ always make it a lot of fun," she corrected.

He laughed at this. "If you say so."

…

There was so much arguing.

Everyone was clearly getting frustrated, but Scarlett had accepted that there was no safe way to do it. She also refused to let anything happen that wasn't her way.

Sandy was the one that was having a fit over safety. She insisted that it was her that should return to the Afterlife and find Jensen McQueen so that nobody else get hurt. Mostly, her protests were just being ignored.

Alicewanted it to be herself for the same reason. She thought it should be a new face and, since it was her money, she should be the one.

Gunner argued against her on many points. He persisted that he should pay Jensen back with his own money becauseAliceshouldn't be dragged into it. He also was being very protective over the girls, and wanted to go himself. Sandy said it didn't matter whose money it was because she would pay them back as soon as possible anyway.

But all of them could agree on their shock at how stubborn Scarlett was. "I don't care who gives me the money, just let me go!" she exclaimed, nearly ripping out her hair in frustration.

"Let me pay for half of it," Gunner said, trying desperately to reach a compromise. "Since it's half my fault anyway. Then Sandy, you can pay Alice back once you get the money since she had nothing to do with it."Alice shook her head but did not argue this.

"And there is no way you are going down there alone,"Alice said to Scarlett, letting her 'best-friend instincts' kick in.

"What, just so more of us can be in danger?" Scarlett scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."

And thus, another argument ensued.

Darkness had long since fell upon them by the time they all reached an agreement. Gunner and Scarlett would take a cab down to the very same alley that they were at the week before. Scarlett would head in alone while Gunner waited in the limo. He gave her ten minutes inside alone before he would go in and act.

They put their plan into action right away, per Sandy's request, and before they knew it, Gunner and Scarlett's cab pulled to a stop.

"I won't be long," Scarlett said quietly to the cab driver. She felt like she needed to whisper, as the night was eerily quiet for LA. She walked a few steps into the unusually dark alley and glanced over her shoulder nervously.

She could no longer see the cab.

She took another deep breath, knowing that she had to act quickly because her minutes were timed. Her footsteps resumed.

"Hey girlie, got anything for a poor man?" The voice came from right in front of her. She didn't see him until she was face-to-face with him and she let out a small scream in response. "No need to be afraid…" the raspy voice laughed.

"No… nothing, sorry," she said, boldly taking a step aside and hurrying through the alleyway. Almost gratefully, she located the half-lit sign reading AFTERLIFE. The door creaked open and she was almost blasted back.

After the seemingly-hours long walk through the pitch-black silent alley, the light and noise from the club was startling. She stepped in and the door shut behind her. Surveying her surroundings, she tried desperately to keep her eyes away from the couples and the clouds of drugs surrounding certain areas.

Almost as soon as she stepped in, a man swooped down on her out of nowhere. "Hey pretty lady, what brings you here on this fine evening?" he said.

Scarlett was finding it difficult to hide her fear. "I'm…. looking for someone," she said, just now realizing that she had no idea what Jensen McQueen even looked like.

"Well you've found me," he said with an evil snarl as he took a step closer to her.

"Stay away from her!" a powerful, raging voice said over the din of the club. This voice filled Scarlett with thankfulness and relief, but at the same time dread and disappointment. So it was true.

"Who're you to stop me?" the first man snarled to the one who'd rushed to Scarlett's defense.

"Her father."

…

The girls had some shopping to do. They did not get it done that weekend asShannonhad originally planned, so they rearranged for it to happen during the week after class. After much frustration and changes of the plan, the girls were finally ready to hit the local mall to look for some dresses.

Bethany had just finished up tallying the most recent amounts in the Penny Wars fundraiser. She was very nearly late as she met up with many of her fellow classmates in the center of the mall. Like many, she did not particularly want to be there, but she'd been asked by Desmond to go so she had to get a dress sooner or later.

"Hey, Collins," Claire smiled as she arrived. "Barely made it."

"Yeah, I was -,"

"Working on the paper, yeah, we know," Claire finished for her. "Penny Wars, right?"

Bethany nodded but said nothing. She knew exactly what was the next thing to come out of her mouth, and sure enough, Claire asked immediately, "How much do we have so far? Who's winning?"

"That's confidential,"Bethany said robotically, as she did every time someone asked her. She did not want to imagine the looks on their faces when she told them that the money they raised so far was nowhere near enough to save their beloved Tragic Torrent. She told herself, though, that there was still plenty of time for the students to raise the money they needed.

"We wouldn't tell anyone," Nix said, also curious. She'd grown to like the little club and its student-friendly environment. She had a good time every time they went their after school, even though there was a gloom that fell over the place every time the students entered.

"I know you wouldn't,"Bethany sighed as the group slipped into the first store and split apart. "It's just… policy." She felt awkward as she wandered around the store with her friends. She didn't exactly know how to begin.

The others decided to drop the matter as the search began. "You're going with Hunter, right, Claire?" Micah asked. She nodded. "Hmm. He's been a bit odd."

"I've noticed that," Claire frowned. "Not as social. I wonder what's up."

Bethany listened with interest. As much as she was against gossip, she really did like to know all that was going on. A strong curiosity took over her as to why Hunter was behaving in this manner. "Who are you going with again, Bethany?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts with this question. "Um, Desmond."

"I didn't know you two were an item," Nix said.

"We're not,"Bethanysaid awkwardly. "It's just like a… friendly date type thing."

"What about you and Hunter, Claire?" Micah asked curiously. "I highly doubt that he had just a 'friendly date' in mind when he asked you."

Blushing wildly, Claire sputtered, "I – well, we haven't really – we've been friends forever -,"

"Save it,"Bethany grinned. "We all know there's something more."

"Well even if there is," Claire said defensively, finally regaining her composure. "It's not – ooh, this is cute!"

All other things were momentarily forgotten as they gathered around their friend to look at what she'd found. It was a simple lacy white material.

"I don't know if that'll suit you, Claire," Ana's wise tone said from behind them as she was looking through a rack of her own. "You're so pale and blonde already."

"True," she said. "Well, I'll just remember this one is here."

"So, Micah, Nix,"Bethany said, not having forgotten their previous conversation. "Nobody's asked you yet?" There was something very knowing in her tone that Claire picked up right away. After all, they still did not who it was that had captured their friend Sam's affections.

"Well, a freshman did ask me," Micah tilted her head curiously. She did not seem to detect the hidden meaning behind Bethany's question. "I'm not sure who he was, though. He was a little scary, actually."

The girls laughed momentarily. "I don't think I'll be going," Nix said sadly.

"Why?" Claire asked, freezing in the middle of examining a dress.

"Well," Nix said. "I've never been a huge fan..."

"Oh, bullshit,"Bethanysaid as Micah and Claire nodded. "You're going."

Nix shrugged, not wanting to argue. "We'll see."

After getting their fill of that store, the large group of girls left elsewhere. None had made any purchases because it was so early on in their search. Trying to be inconspicuous, Melissa made a bold attempt at sneaking into a soccer store. Kate grabbed her sleeve. "Oh no you don't," she said, laughing.

"But let me just -,"

"No," Kate said firmly. "You think I want to be here either? No."

"You have a date," Melissa pointed out. "You have to go." Kate and Jack had agreed to go as friends as well.

"You'll have a date soon enough," Kate said, thinking of how close she had Miles had been since they met. You would think that they'd been friends forever.

Melissa seemed to guess what she was thinking. "No, absolutely not," she said defiantly.

"Whatever you say," Kate said, smiling, in a tone that said she clearly did not believe her friend at all.

"Not going to happen."

"Not yet, maybe…"

They continued to argue like this until they caught back up with their friends. They ran into Emma, who was telling Elizabeth, Melody, and Juliet something that they all found very interesting.

"…and my manager said he'd look into it," she was just finishing up her story.

"Are you in this movie at all?" Juliet asked curiously.

"No," Emma shook her head. "He's just involved with some other actress that's in it."

"Well still, that's bloody awesome," Melody said.

"What?" Kate inquired curiously.

"My manager said that some director wants to make a movie and film it on a campus like ours," Emma explained. "They're coming around in a few weeks to check the place out and see if it works for them."

"No way?" Kate exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

"I know!" Emma said with just as much excitement. "I don't know how it's going to affect our school day, but…"

"…but who cares?" Melody completed for her. She pulled out a very revealing top that looked like it would fit in her wardrobe very well. "I like this…"

"Please tell me you're planning on wearing a normal dress to homecoming like every other girl,"Elizabethsaid as she raised her eyebrows.

"I am," Melody said but she didn't put the top back on the shelf. "But this can be for the party this Saturday."

There was so much suggestiveness in her voice that it left no doubt in anyone's mind regarding what she was talking about. "You better watch yourself," Kate warned. "Alice is going to kick your ass."

"I'd like to see her try," Melody scoffed. She didn't even bother to deny it.

Kate shook her head but knew it was no use arguing. "Whatever… This is not going to end well…"

She would end up being very right, but that's another time.

…

As the day at the mall closed up, only a few of the girls actually committed to a running her mouth off about how they could come again this Sunday to keep searching. She stopped short, however, at the sight of Tracey McQueen, flanked by Alli Rockchester, Tamara Addams, and Liv Wyllie.

"Well look who it is," she said maliciously. "Your future classmates," she said to Liv, who did not look pleased at this mention.

"What are you doing here, McQueen?"Shannon hissed, her anger matched by the other girls. Alice and Sandy, however, looked as if they needed to be restrained from jumping Tracey and pummeling her.

"Does it matter?" Alli scowled. "This is a public place, hon… can't kick us out like last time."

"Can't kick you out, but we can kick your ass!" Scarlett scowled. She and Shannon, standing with their arms crossed and scowling menacingly, made for a pretty threatening team. Of course, in any other time, they'd be arguing.

"Speaking of getting your ass kicked," Tracey went on as she flipped her blonde hair sickeningly. "Surprised you made it back here in one piece… wish the same could be said for your other friends."

Many of the girls had no idea what she was talking about but Sandy about lost her mind. Angry, she opened her mouth to start screaming at Tracey, but Scarlett held up her hand to silence her. She knew that if Sandy spoke, then Tracey would know that she was at the Afterlife that night. Jensen had Gunner's name, but he needn't know anyone else who was there.

"Your dad will burn in Hell, but he'll have you for company," she whispered so that no one else could hear it.

"So will yours," Tracey said just as quietly with just as much venom. Speaking loudly again, she added, "You and most of your little friends may be under protection, but those of you who aren't… better watch yourselves."

Alli laughed evilly beside her. At this, Tamara and Emma locked eyes. There was a certain shadow in her friend's brown eyes that told Emma that she had some other information. "Let's go, we've got… business, to attend to," Tracey said. Alli followed haughtily, Tamara did reluctantly. Liv stayed behind for a moment.

There was an awkward moment as she stared at them. She didn't seem to realize that there were so many of them. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, looking down at her feet before following as well.

**WOW.**

**Did it take me long enough to get this one out, or what? Don't even tell me. I don't want to know. Well… there you have it. I don't really have much to say. But I'd love to hear what you have to say… reviews? (:**

**Creds to blink-182 and their song FIRST DATE for the chapter title.**


	12. We Were Walking Through Some Youth

Sandy was hellbent on not letting any one else get dragged into her mess. Yet somehow, she found herself getting pretty, laughing and chatting away with friends as they got ready to head to Gunner's house. All the while, Emma was off at a high-class party – spying on Jensen McQueen, who was also at the party.

When Scarlett returned from the dark alleyway, she triumphantly informed them that her dad had made McQueen swear that he wouldn't harm her or any of her friends at all. However, Alice had insisted that they could not trust his word, and so another argument ensued. It seemed all too perfect that Emma was going to be at the same place as him tonight, so they enlisted her as a spy, knowing they could trust her with the whole story.

Sandy, though, had another concern, one that she did not voice aloud because she knew her friends would argue with her about it. She pulled Emma aside and told her privately. It was quite simple, really:

Gunner was the only one whose name McQueen knew. Also, the reason he was having a party was because his parents were out – at the same place as Emma and McQueen. Sandy could put two and two together, and she knew that her new nemesis could as well. And with that, Emma promised to watch out for them as well.

So Sandy arrived at Gunner's with Scarlett, Elizabeth, Ana, Kate, Melody, and Zoey. As the other girls gossiped about Elizabeth's homecoming date (Dean), Sandy gazed out of the window, itching for a text from Emma saying that everything was going fine.

"I still can't believe you're going with my brother," Melody shook her long black hair disapprovingly as she frowned at Zoey.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't miss out on homecoming, plus he's one of the only guys I really know at this school so far."

It was easy to forget that Zoey was new. "Really? Because I hear you've 'gotten to know' quite a few guys…" Scarlett interjected.

Zoey smirked. "I guess you can put it that way."

"Something wrong, Sandy?" Elizabeth asked suddenly.

Sandy's head shot from the window toward the group of friends at the sound of her name. She put on a believable smile. "No… well… I was just thinking, I don't have a date yet!"  
This convenient truth was quite believable. "Ohh, well, I'm sure that'll change soon," Scarlett sent her a wink.

She sounded like she knew much more than she was letting on. Although curious, Sandy decided not to inquire any further as they pulled up into the driveway of Gunner's rather large house.

Gunner and Alice were sitting on the front porch. Reggie and Charlie were with them. "Gunner, Alice, important question," Scarlett said immediately.

"Shoot."

"Is your pool ready for use?" Scarlett asked. Alice laughed.

"Of course," Gunner said.

"Good," she said, taking a seat beside Alice and helping herself to some of the chips that the two had sitting out. "I had everyone bring their suits."

"The skimpy one that Sawyer made you buy?" Charlie raised his eyebrows.

Scarlett blushed and said, "Well, it actually _is_ kind of cute…"

Meanwhile, Reggie was staring at Scarlett with an intense look on his face. "What? I'm not wearing it yet," she said, bewildered.

"You should be," he said instinctively. "Anyway… I think there was something I was supposed to tell you… something important…"

The others stared at him. "I think it had something to do with you," he added as he directed his gaze toward Melody.

"Me?" she was equally as confused as the others.

"If you can't remember it, it obviously wasn't that important," Zoey pointed out.

Reggie shrugged. "Fair enough. Anyway, I heard pool… you know what that means…"

"I actually don't, but something tells me I don't want to either," Gunner said, questioning what he and Alice were thinking when they planned yet another party for their friends.

"It means IT'S TIME TO GET WET!" With astonishing speed, Reggie grabbed his nearest victim – who just happened to be Ana Lucia – and hoisted her over his shoulders.

"Don't even _think_ about Greenberg!" she was screaming as Reggie paraded through the house toward the backyard where the pool was. "You put me down _right now_ and we won't have any problems!"

Her threats echoed through the house until they could not be heard anymore. "I guess we'd better go make sure she doesn't kill him," Kate sighed, getting up and following suit of her friends. Reluctantly, the rest followed.

…

Sometimes Emma loved what she did, and sometimes she hated it.

As she dressed into some overpriced, brand-name dress and took a limo to a dining hall for the party, the only thing that kept her sane was knowing that Tamara and her mother Jenadine were going to be there as well.

At least Sandy had given her a job to do. Albeit, it was not a fun job (in fact, it was kind of frightening), but it gave her something to do other than the dreadful "Hi-how-are-you's" that would otherwise occupy her entire night.

She stepped out of the limo and rushed into the dining hall. She smiled and said hello to a people (some, she didn't even know), but her eyes were scanning the large room for Tamara and Jen. Finally, she spotted the two small-framed girls standing near the far corner.

Emma struggled through the crowd before arriving at the two familiar faces. "Hi," she said breathlessly.

"Emma, good to see you," Jen said very professionally and shook her hand. Tamara hugged her briefly. "School's been good?"

"Oh… not bad," Emma said half-truthfully.

Jen obviously didn't believe her. "I've heard interesting things about what's happened in the few short weeks you've been back," she went on. Clearly, she wanted confirmation that whatever rumors she heard were true.

"Well, there've been quite a lot of injuries," Emma said in a tone that clearly stated she didn't want to talk about it.

"So I've heard," Jen nodded. "You see, I was thinking of having Tamara transfer over, but after all of the things that people have been saying…"

"WHAT?" Emma cried, not letting Jen finish her thought. She looked at Tamara to see if this was true. Her eyes were averted. "I assure you, Mrs. Addams, that the incidents you're talking about were out of our control, and that Tamara would be perfectly safe and happy at Smarba."

"Emma, how many times must I ask you to call me Jen?" she sighed, ignoring the meaning completely. "Oh Jensen, how nice to see you!"

Momentarily bewildered, Emma had forgotten that she was in the midst of a high-class party. She whirled around to find herself face-to-face with Tracey McQueen, who looked smug as she stood next to the brick wall of a man who had to be her father.

"Jensen, have you met Emma Wilson? I'm sure you've heard of her, she and my daughter are good friends," Jen was saying. Emma was speechless for a few seconds as she took in what was happening. Why was Jen being so friendly? She knew what he was.

"Of course," Jensen smiled and held out his hand for Emma to shake. She did tentatively. "I believe you know my daughter, Tracey?"

"Of course," Emma said softly as Tracey sent her a sickeningly sweet smile. The McQueens were then pulled away by another family that they knew. Immediately, Emma pulled her phone from her bag.

…

Sandy jumped as she felt her phone vibrate, her heart pounding as she read that the text was from Emma. She breathed a sigh of relief, however, upon reading that all was well but she had sighted McQueen. She looked around to update Gunner and Alice, but then decided otherwise; they were having too much fun, and Sandy did not want to ruin it.

"Are you alright?"

Sandy glanced up to see Sayid, who had always been a good friend of hers. He looked concerned. "Oh… well… I'm a bit preoccupied," she said, unable to lie to him completely.

"I see that," Sayid said, and somehow he seemed to know exactly why she was preoccupied. Sandy was always amazed at how accurate he was when it came to knowing exactly what was going on all the time. For example, he knew that she did not want to talk about it. "Why aren't you hanging with the rest of us?"

Sandy glanced up at a large group of her classmates, who had gathered around a Ping-Pong table and had started a game of Welts. "Getting pummeled by ping-pong balls wasn't on my bucket list for tonight," Sandy said with a slight smile. In this game, a ping pong paddle was placed on each end of the table. The goal was to bounce the ball perfectly on the paddle or the handle; if you did successfully, the members of the other team were forced to lift their shirts so that you could whip the ping pong balls at their bare skin as hard as you can.

"Me neither, that's why I stopped," Sayid said, lifting his shirt slightly to show a few welts forming on his skin. Sandy laughed. "I was thinking about going for a swim instead, would you like to join me?"

"Sure," Sandy said, grateful for something to keep her occupied. She stood up off the couch and fell in step beside Sayid as they walked outside toward the pool.

"So Alessandra, how would you like to go to homecoming with me?" he asked cheerfully.

Sandy was pleasantly surprised. "Yes! That'd be great!" she found herself smiling for real for the first time all night. Sayid smiled back.

…

Meanwhile, Sandy and Sayid were not the only new pair of dates for homecoming.

Aaron looked like he was about to kill someone, but he was conflicted as to whom it should be. Reggie, for asking his sister to homecoming, or Mary, for agreeing to go with one of the biggest players in the entire school?

"Chill out dude, he told me he just wants to go as friends," Dmitri said, casual and laidback as usual, his feet up on the Sosas' expensive dining room table.

"Of course he'd say that!' Aaron bellowed. "I'm sure he said that to brothers of the last 5 girls he's screwed, too!"

Dmitri rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his frustration with his overly-protective friend. "Look, Mary's not stupid. She knows what she's getting herself into."

"I swear, if he lays _one hand_ on her…" Aaron growled, completely disregarding Dmitri's constant reassurances.

"If you're that concerned, get in the group," Dmitri said.

"What?" Aaron stopped in his tracks.

"There's always a group of dates," Dmitri shrugged. "Ask one of her friends, and you'll be able to tail them all night."

Aaron considered this. It was true, that normally the girls, their friends, and their dates all went 'together' of sorts. He got on well with Mary's friends, but he wasn't close with any of them. "No," he sighed. "She'll know something's up. I'm not tight enough with any of her friends to be able to ask them." He paused. "You wouldn't do it, would you?"

"Uh. What?" Dmitri questioned.

"Go and keep an eye on her," Aaron shrugged. "I'm not saying like, follow her around all night, but just make sure Greenberg doesn't try anything."

"You know I didn't want to go," Dmitri sighed, knowing where this was leading.

"I know," Aaron said quickly. "Neither do I, but I will if you will."

Dmitri sighed. "Okay. You owe me."

Aaron grinned. "Awesome! Cool… yeah, I owe you for sure."

Dmitri opened his mouth to add something else but a high-pitched, angry shriek beat him to it. The two boys exchanged puzzled glances before both hurrying off in the direction of the sound.

They were one of the last to arrive to the scene. In the center was Scarlett, clearly the cause of the commotion, fuming like a volcano about ready to erupt. Dmitri and Aaron were still quite confused at what was going on.

"Did _you_ do this?" she demanded of Brian, who looked completely bewildered. As she spoke, they finally realized what she had gotten her so infuriated; her teeth had been dyed a dark, inky black.

"Me? What?" he stuttered. "I didn't – why would I -?"

"You're the one who got me my drink, Caldwell!" she exclaimed. The drink, at a poolside table, had clearly been spilled and the dye was currently sinking into the tile.

"You asked me to!" he fought back, getting his wits about him again.

"I didn't ask for this!" she screamed, indicating her mouth.

"If I were you, I'd ask for a breath mint!" he retaliated, and the crowd seemed not to know whether to laugh at his nerve or be scared for him.

Alarmed, she held her hand up to her mouth and breathed into it. She recoiled at the smell. Curious, Hunter picked the glass off the ground and sniffed it as well. "Ugh – that's nasty…"

"I swear, Scarlett, I didn't do anything," Brian said as genuinely as Brian could.

"Then who did?" she countered. He shrugged.

Alice, as hostess, stepped forward. "C'mon S, let's get into the bathroom and get this stuff off," she said soothingly, leading a still raging Scarlett back into the house.

Brian still looked alarmed as the crowd dispersed to get back to partying.

Meanwhile, Reggie's eyes lit up with realization. _Now_ he remembered what he had to tell Scarlett.

…

Emma had begun to relax and have fun. She'd caught up with a few old friends and met a couple others. Most of the guests had now begun to sit down for dinner, and she waited at table for Tamara and her mother to join her.

Emma jumped slightly when Jensen McQueen and a friend took the seats beside her, not even noticing her sitting there. She was halfway out of her seat to find a new table when she noticed their behavior; speaking in low voices, shifty, and overall very suspicious.

She sat back down again, daringly edging her chair closer to the large man. She couldn't pick much up. "- I paid the waiter, threatened his life if he told -."

An unexplainable chill shot down Emma's spine. It only just really hit her the power and mercilessness of the man sitting next to her. She jumped again as her phone went off – rather loudly – and the two men whirled around to see her sitting there.

She shot them a nervous smile as she fumbled to answer her phone. "Excuse me," she apologized as she ran off to a secluded area and pressed her phone to her hear. "Tamara – what, what?" her terror showed in her voice.

She was not the only one. "Emma, my mom and I were just back in the kitchen, and they're preparing the food for everyone, you know, and the drinks, and -,"

"Get to the point, Sosa's about to do the toast," she whispered as Gunner's father stepped up and a hush began to fall over the crowd.

"NO!" Tamara exclaimed rather loudly on the other end. "It's poisoned, Emma, his wine is poisoned!"

Her phone dropped to the floor in disbelief. Immediately, she began to wander through the crowd, trying not to draw too much attention to herself, as she was the only one moving. She approached the man speaking, desperately trying to think of a valid excuse for him not to take a drink.  
"So, in short, this toast is for all of you gathered here now and everyone who has helped us get here," he beamed. Emma noticed that his smile was just like Gunner's.

Emma picked up her pace, finding it hard to squeeze through the crowd. "…to all of our hard-work…"

Heads were turning in her direction, muttering about how rude she was being but she couldn't hear them or didn't care. "…to success, and to all the success that is to come our way," he was concluding.

Emma kicked off her high heels and took off in a full out sprint. "To the future!" he exclaimed, lifting his glass to his lips.

There was a crash, a thud, and many loud gasps.

…

The night was just beginning and already DJ wanted to go home. At first, when he heard the news of Hunter and Claire being an official homecoming date, he was happy. He was happy because he knew how close the two were and that Claire had had feelings for Hunter on-and-off during the last few years.

But that feeling of happiness for them didn't last long. He felt a rush of resentment every time he saw the two together. And now, at the party, slightly tipsy, and dancing together, he felt nothing but contempt for the man.

Matt – always in tune to everyone's emotions – seemed to sense that he was not having fun. "What's up?" he said casually as he took the seat beside DJ.

"What?" DJ said, shouting over the loud music.

"I said, what's up?" Matt repeated, raising his voice.

"Oh," DJ said. "Not much, I guess. Having fun?" he tried his best to keep up a conversation with the kid.

He shrugged. "I'm not one for partying. Or at least, not as much as these guys." His classmates could sometimes be overwhelming.

"I know what you mean," DJ agreed.

"What?" Matt asked.

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"I said, I know what you mean," DJ pretty much shouted. Matt nodded.

"She's cute," Matt said after a slight pause in the conversation. He nodded to Nix, who was chatting with Nick and Zoey. "You should, you know, get on that."

DJ laughed. He knew exactly why Matt had suggested Nix to him; the resemblance between her and Claire was striking. "I'll pass."

"C'mon!" Matt encouraged him. "I heard she's free for homecoming."

"What?"

"She's free for homecoming!" Matt said louder. "No plans!"

"Oh me too," DJ nodded. "I don't feel like going."  
"Just because you can't go with the girl you wanted, doesn't mean you can't go to have fun!" Matt said.

DJ looked at him. "You're going with Juliet?" he nodded. "Cool. Have fun bro."

Matt rolled his eyes at his fellow jock. Between him and Tyson, Matt was in over his head with setting up couples. "I will," he sighed.

"What?"

"What?"

"I can't hear what you're saying!"

"…What?"

…

Sometimes, Dmitri had no idea how he got into the messes that he did.

He was probably drunk when he agreed to it.

But he made a promise, and he was a man of his word. So he just braced himself for a date night with the most bizarre girl in the school, because when he asked Micah Hill to homecoming, she said yes.

Admittedly, Micah was a pretty girl, friendly, and all around had a good personality. But the fact is, she and Dmitri were such polar opposites that the gossip buzz – led by Shannon Rutherford – was all about them.

As he departed the scene, smiling and telling Micah that he was really looking forward to it, his eyes fell on another new homecoming couple: Sayid and Sandy, who were dancing to the impossibly loud music.

And Dmitri couldn't help but think that he would much rather be going with her.

This very thought made him stop in his tracks. Sandy, his close friend. Sandy, his first friend when he moved to the area three years prior. Sandy, whose life he may have saved mere weeks ago. Sandy, who helped him through the worst times of his addiction and was still there to support him as he still tried to overcome it. Sandy, the girl who he once, a lifetime ago, spent a drunken night with –

No. He could not feel this way. He would not let some stupid attraction get in the way of their friendship, or in the way of their homecoming night.

Either way, Dmitri was sure he was going to need a lot of drinks after the dance was over.

…

The festivities had come to a crashing halt as the shaken guests were rushed out of the dining hall and the police entered the scene.

Jensen still felt unsatisfied, walking around the near-empty hall doing his best to "help out" with the situation.

His foot collided with something small and sent it skidding across the floor. Puzzled, he walked toward it. He lifted the phone up to his eyes and observed the screensaver.

He smiled.

…

The newspaper was slammed forcefully onto the table, revealing Emma Wilson's clenched teeth and red face. She seemed to be shaking with anger. "Thanks, Bethany."

Bethany shrugged, feeling slightly guilty but all-in-all not overly concerned. "Hey, it's better that the students of Smarba hear it in my words."

This, Emma could not deny. Sunday morning papers all over Los Angeles raved about how "Actress Wilson Attacks Sosa Tech President." As an actress, she was normally very unconcerned about the press, and worried more about maintaining her individuality and personality. This time, however, she felt that her reputation may be irreversibly tarnished.

Claire, Nix, Micah, Marissa, and Elizabeth glanced at her sympathetically, words failing. Their party, too, ended suddenly and early as Gunner's parents arrived home in a rage. The students were rushed out of the household, and Gunner did not return to campus the following day.

"You did the right thing, Emma," Marissa tried her best to console the girl. "You saved his life."

"I know," Emma sighed.

"The police will investigate the scene and find the traces of poison," Micah said confidently. "Then your name will be cleared."

"I hope it will be that easy," Emma said though she was not confident in her words. By now, pretty much the entire student body knew of the details of Sandy's encounter with Jensen McQueen and the rumor mill had started up again. "I can't believe my manager hasn't called me yet." Her hand reached into her jeans pocket, and her eyes widened when she felt nothing.

"What?" Elizabeth asked wildly, noticing the fear in her friend's eyes.

"My phone," Emma was panicking and jumping to her feet. She pulled the couch cushions up and began searching wildly. "It's gone!"

"It can't be!" Nix exclaimed. "Where'd you last have it?"

"I…" she wanted to say she had it this morning, but a feeling in her gut knew it wasn't true. "I talked to Tamara on the phone last night… and then…" she swore she felt her heart stop as the blur of last night began to clear up. "And I dropped my phone in order to get to Sosa on time."

A hush fell over the room. "Maybe the police found it," Bethany suggested halfheartedly.

"They would've returned it by now," Emma said, sinking back into the couch, defeated. "I need to talk to my manager. Can I borrow one of your phones?"  
Elizabeth handed hers over warily and Emma wandered off with it.

…

The next day, school and normality were back in session and that meant that fall sports practices were as well. Dean was tentatively back in practice, planning on playing that Friday night's football game and Thursday night's soccer game. Russ, still dazed from his hard hit, was unfortunately still out of the game. But he consistently attended practices to keep up with the team.

Meaning, he was there when Liv Wyllie showed up in her soccer shorts and her dark brown hair pulled up in a messy ponytail on her first day, and, as always, he was the first to offer a snide remark.

"What the hell're _you _doing here?" he sneered, emphasizing 'you' as if it he were addressing a vulgar, despicable creature.

Gabe, the captain, shot Russ a reprimanding look, but the bitter tone had no effect on Liv. All day, she'd been hissed at in the hallways for being a former Ravla student, and frankly Russ's comment was much kinder than most she'd heard that day. Also, she was strong, and though she felt a surge of anger, she cast it aside. "I'm here to practice," she said coolly.

"This is a guy's team," Dean said as if he were trying to be nice about it, but his snide tone didn't go unnoticed.

"Got something you're not telling us, dear?" Russ added, and got a slight chuckle from a few of the other guys.

She ignored him, though her anger flared more with every word. "Don't you guys do any practicing here? No wonder it was so easy to beat you," she muttered, but the others heard.

"Yes, we _guys_ do a lot of practicing," Charlie inputted, emphasizing the word 'guys'.

"If you want to play with us, fine," Gabe said, hushing over his teammates with surprising authority. "But tryouts are over, hun. Sorry." He and the rest of the boys began scattering into their positions.

"Shirts or skins, love?" Dean smirked.

"I played skins, she can take my spot," Russ spoke up from the sidelines.

"Please ignore them," Boone begged, taking his own shirt off and getting into position. "I'll take Ardielle's spot, you take mine." Though acting slightly nicer than the other boys, Liv could tell that it was more because of his frustration with Dean and Russ, than his strife to reach out to new kids.

And so practice began, Gabe commanding the team to do their positions and exercises. Liv fought fiercely, determined to prove herself to the Smarba boys. Just because she had not argued her spot on the team even further, doesn't mean that she's giving it up.

The team seemed to be very conflicted and awkward with her being there. About half of them decided to go easy on her because she was the only girl, while the other half seemed to play even harder against her because she was from their rival school. It didn't phase her, however, as the scrimmage match went on.

She and Dean met in the middle, a smirk on his face as he danced around the ball, faking one way and going the other. Her anger flared again as she charged forward, ramming into his side, taking the ball as she did it, and despite her size, knocking him flat on his back.

Liv darted forward like a bullet, juggling the ball in and out of the boys as she sent a final, powerful kick and sent it scoring into the goal. She turned back and sent a smirk back at Dean, who, to her surprise, was still sitting on the ground, staring at her.

The others were too, half impressed, half irritated.

Again, Russ's snide voice spoke up from the sidelines. "Let's try _not_ to injure any more of us, 'kay? He just got better."

"If you don't shut your mouth, you're going to get a far worse injury!" she finally lost it, whirling around and staring him straight in the eye.

Gabe, feeling like he should be getting paid for being the local peacemaker, rushed in between the two hotheaded, fiery people who indeed looked like they wanted nothing more than to severely injure each other. "Russell," Gabe sighed. "Leave the new girl alone." He then turned to Liv. "Olivia," he hesitated and put an arm around Russ's shoulder. "We need him."  
Liv scoffed but turned on her heel and returned to the field. She held out a hand to Dean, who graciously accepted and was pulled back onto his feet. "Sorry," she muttered. "I forgot you hurt your foot."

Dean shrugged. "No big deal. It's pretty much all better now anyway."

And so the game continued.

About 5 minutes after Liv's goal and near-fight with Russ, an unfamiliar man – to her, at least – appeared at Russ's side. She saw them chat back and forth and felt the man's eyes on her at all times. As Gabe called for the game to stop to order something new, the man stepped in.

"Hold up, Hill," he said. "Water break, team." They scurried off, grateful. "Coach Simpson," he said simply, holding out a hand to the new girl. "I don't think we've ever officially met, but I sure do recognize you."

Liv was unsure of how to react to this. "Yes," he continued. "You certainly were a strong unit on both the girls' and boys' team at that other school, weren't you?"

"I suppose so, yes," she agreed, trying not to sound too eager.

He peered at her. "We'll see if that holds true here."

"You're not serious, are you?" many of the guys froze in their spots at these words from their soccer coach, staring at him in disbelief.

"Boys, this could be the advantage we need -,"

"It's embarrassing!" Charlie interrupted his train of thought. "It's humiliating!" Liv glanced around; none of the other guys seemed to want to stick up for her. Some of them were nodding encouragingly at Charlie's words, others were staring at their feet.

"Humiliating that a girl can play better ball than you, Pace?" he said gruffly. Charlie's face went red and he spoke up no more. "Now, as I was saying…"

"No, Charlie's right," Russ growled. "It's degrading. There're guys' and girls' teams for a reason. We don't need to take in a girl on the team to help us win. We can do it ourselves."

Now Coach Simpson was shaking his head at him. "Ardielle, I sure do miss the times when you never said anything."

"I miss when there wasn't anything that needs to be said, and being the only one with the balls to say anything," he went on stubbornly. "It doesn't matter how good she is. It doesn't help that she used to play for our enemies. But the guys and the girls have separate teams, that's the rules. It is how it is."

"That doesn't matter now, it's behind me," Liv said kind of quietly. Even she was surprised that her anger didn't get the better of her. "I just want to play soccer. I don't care who it's for."

"See? Hell of a lot more dedication than you have," the coach said smugly.

"No dedication? _Me_?" he scoffed. "We all know that's bullshit. But I sure won't have any 'dedication' to this team if you put her on it."

Now all of the other guys seemed otherwise occupied with other things, as if not wanting to be dragged into this. Liv was sure that they didn't want to interject their opinions – because most of them probably agreed with Russ.

The coach turned to Gabe. "You're the captain. It's your call."  
Gabe looked flustered to have been brought into this. "Well… it's not like this school has ever paid much attention to the rules, anyway," he said hesitantly, and Liv beamed. If she knew him better, she'd run over and hug him.

Russ shook his head. "See you at football," he said to Dean, before exiting the field.

The remainder of practice was awkwardly solemn. Liv could tell that the guys were peeved about her being a part of the team now. She chose not to say anything, however, because she had already made enough of a bad impression.

When practice ended and most of them headed off to their dorms to shower, Dean set off on a fast pace toward the football stadium. Liv caught up with him. "Going to football practice?"

"Yeah," he said, irritated. "Why? Interested in ruining that team as well?"  
Her anger flared. "Ruining it? Bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "I guess so. I'm just kind of upset about it. Now I'm going to have to run laps alone," he joked.

"What?"

"Since Russell and I show up late to football because of soccer, we'd have to run two laps around the field," he explained. She laughed. He did too. "Maybe I'll tell the coach that my ankle still hurts and I can't run on it too much."  
"That may work," she said. "I wanted to go out for football at Ravla, but they wouldn't let me. Maybe…" she trailed off hopefully.

"Don't," Dean said warningly. She stared at him. "Look at you. I'm like, a foot taller than you. You'd get destroyed."

"I can handle –!"

"I'm sure you can," he said lightly. "But… it's brutal, the way we play. Plus, you have no chance of even being considered for the team. The captain would have a fit, and the coach always bends to the captain's will."  
Liv had a feeling she knew who "the captain" was.

Sure enough, as they arrived, Dean headed straight for Russell, who was on the sidelines tossing the ball back and forth to their coach. "Are you playing now?" Dean asked excitedly.

"No," he answered, throwing the ball with ease. "I wish."

"Laps, Luciano," the coach said as he caught it.

"My ankle, coach," Dean whined. "I don't want to damage it more when I just started playing again."

He nodded his consent and Dean sent a wink in Liv's direction before heading into the locker room. She stood there, not realizing she'd be left alone eventually.

Eventually, the coach took a break to instruct the team and Liv took this time to approach Russ, despite her fury at the boy that was still fresh on her mind. "Hey," she said, taking a breath. "I'm… sorry." Apologizing was awkward; it was totally against her normal personality. But she was at a new school and was having enough trouble as it was making friends. She didn't need one of the jocks (the type of person whom she normally really got along with) to hate her.

"For what?"

"For making you leave soccer," she went on awkwardly.

He shrugged. "It's not like I was playing anyway," he said bitterly.

She took the ball from his hands and stepped back. "You'll be back out soon, though, right?" she asked, throwing it back to him.

He stepped back as well, glaring slightly at her words and letting the ball glide into his open hands. "No."

"Oh," she said. "Rocky must've got you pretty good, then." She noticed, at this, Russ threw the ball back with a little extra force to let off his steam.

"Yeah," he said bitterly. "He is gonna get fucked up when we take 'em on again."

Liv frowned at this. "You know, that's my friend you're talking about."

"You know, I don't care," Russ countered.

There was a silence between them for a moment. "Do you know who my father is, Russell?"

"Is that a threat? 'Cause if so, it's not a very good one."

"No, it's not," Liv said, amused. "He's M-."

"Michael Wyllie. Linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, retired as of a year ago," Russ recited.

Liv raised her eyebrows. "Impressive."

He shrugged. "Not to anyone who knows a thing or two about football."

"I think you know more than 'a thing or two,'" she laughed. He didn't say anything. She could see what Coach Simpson had meant when he said Russ never said anything. It kind of surprised her. "I think he would like you. You should meet him some time."  
"Yeah. Maybe," he said, catching the football and putting it aside. Liv was confused for a moment before she saw a few cheerleaders – practice must have just ended – walking onto the field.

"Is Dean out there?" Scarlett asked. Russ nodded. Liv was slightly irritated; she felt as if she was just starting to make a friend around here.

"Are you Dean's sister?" Liv approached them bravely, tilting her head slightly.

Scarlett turned to her. "Yeah. Are you the new girl? Olivia?"  
"It's Liv," she nodded. "You two look alike."

"_Really_?" Scarlett smiled. "I haven't heard that very much before."

"I think so."

"Russell, _c'mon_, why don't you want to go?" Alice was pleading beside them.

"I don't know.  
"This could be the last time we ever get to go!" Alice argued. The students were planning on going to the blues club that night and unveiling the results of the Penny Wars fundraiser they had done.  
"Oh, darn…"

She hit his arm lightly. "You're going."

"What is this?" Liv asked curiously.

"The Tragic Torrent," Alice answered and Liv nodded. She had heard about it, and was very sad to hear that it would be closing soon. She had had some fun times there. "Do you want to go?"  
Liv was astonished. She had not expected to be invited to a large social event, much less expecting to be invited by such preppy, evidently popular girls. "Um… sure. When?"  
"As soon as Russell gets his ass in the shower," she said, practically dragging him away from the stadium as the other guys hurried into the locker room.

"I don't want to!"

"I swear, they fight like they're already married," Scarlett shook her blonde curls at her best friend and her on-again-off-again man as they bickered all the way back to the dorms. Liv gave a halfhearted smile.

…

Hunter slammed the phone down on the table, his hand shaking with anger. He was perfectly aware that his friends and classmates were all gathering at the blues club for one last farewell, but right now, even that wasn't important to him.

He sighed deeply, turning to the window and staring out into the black night. He ran a hand through his long, unkempt blonde hair and tried to calm the rage at his mother building up inside of him.

Many people believed that Hunter got his fiery side from his father because of his years partying with rock bands. These same people believed that his mother was your typical, 'peace and love' hippie.

This was not the case.

It was his mom that was – how to put this nicely? – a few cards short of a full deck. But since when does Hunter put things nicely? She was a lunatic. She was a woman who followed her passion, listened to her heart, and most importantly, didn't take any shit.

So Hunter, known for these traits himself, found himself up against an immovable object and felt, for the first time, that he had lost.

He had only been in Los Angeles for two years, two short, glorious years, but he fell in love with it. He loved the city life, with its skyscrapers, traffic, offices, clubs, celebrities, and scoundrels. And he was faced now with the possibility of leaving it for a nomadic life.

And as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, his mother and her 'traveling circus' were going to be in the area within the next week, and they wouldn't be staying for long.

So he fought tooth and nail to prolong his departure, but it was to no avail. He would be missing homecoming and leaving Smarba forever.

Hunter sighed once again and picked up his phone. Procrastinating his cancellation with Claire would get no easier over time. She would understand though, he was sure. She was always so selfless and understanding, bighearted and kind. The last two years of his life with her and his other friends had been the best ever, and he couldn't imagine his life without her or the others. She had many admirers she could go to the dance with – but it was leaving her forever that would be the hardest part for him.

…

Claire read the text with sadness in her eyes, and it didn't go unnoticed. "What's up?" Kate asked almost immediately.

"Hunter's leaving," she said softly. "Soon."  
"How soon?"

"Next week," she said sadly.  
Kate's jaw dropped. She knew he would be leaving them – most people knew by now – but she didn't realize it would be so soon. "I'm so sorry," she said, hugging her friend.

"So does that mean you're going solo for homecoming?" Bethany asked curiously.

"I didn't even think of that!" Claire exclaimed. "I was really looking forward to it…"

The emotions in the room were already pretty down because of the doomed fate of the Tragic Torrent. "Don't think about it," Kate said soothingly, putting her arm around her. "We'll make this last week count. Is he coming tonight?"

"Yeah, in a little bit," she nodded.

"Good. We can throw a going away party too," Kate went on. "I'll talk to everyone about it."  
Claire smiled sadly at her friends' attempts at consoling her. She was really very grateful for them, but it had just really sunk in that one of her best friends was leaving, possibly forever.

"Why does every night here end in misery?" Melissa asked curiously and Kate shot her a glare. Melissa shrugged. "It's true!"

"Well, it's about to get a lot less miserable," Bethany said, standing up and pulling out a check. The girls also jumped to their feet, their eyes alight with excitement. Finally, _something_ was going to go right.

Bethany paraded onto the stage and hushed the crowd over. The students watched her eagerly; the other guests, irritated; the workers, confused. "Can I get Kathy out on the stage, please?"

One of the students went and fetched the puzzled owner and practically dragged her onstage. "What's this about, Bethany?" she said quietly, slightly embarrassed.

"The school put together a fundraiser," she spoke into the microphone, a triumphant smile on her face. "A war between classes, of who can raise the most money. The trick is that, by adding silver coins to other people's collections, you could take away some of their money. It was a lot of fun," she said to a load of cheers. "And I collected all of the change – there was a lot of it," Many of her friends let out laughs at this, having witnessed her heaving around pounds of coins. "Brought it to the bank, and made a check out to the Tragic Torrent because none of us want to see this place go. So Kathy… this is for you," she smiled and handed the manager her money.

Kathy seemed to be speechless as she took the check from Bethany and the crowd burst into applause. "Guys… thank you… this means a lot, you have no idea."

"We couldn't just sit back and watch it die," Bethany grinned.

A tear fell from her eyes. "But…it's not enough."

Time seemed to reach a standstill at these words. The air was numb with shock and heartbreak as even the rowdiest of students could not find their voices. All their hard work, gone to waste…

"Like Hell it's not!"

A fiery Alice broke the deadened silence as she, too, stomped up onto the stage. No one, not even Bethany seemed to know what was going on now. "I pledged," she breathed. "that whatever amount we raised for this place, I'd match it." And with that, she whipped out a check of her own.

And the noise was nearly unbearable. You'd have thought someone had won the lottery with the excitement buzzing through everyone. After several minutes of wild celebration, Kathy took the mic, grinning like an idiot. "Well, this definitely will do for the time being. It'll be a struggle to keep up the money, but with your support, I think we can pull it off."

…

Homecoming was bearing down on everybody, and Alice was getting beyond irritated. She had turned down a number of nice boys to the dance with the slim chance that her almost-boyfriend would ask her. Yet he surprised nobody, and had yet to even whisper the word "homecoming."

So when Tyson (finally getting up the nerves) approached her and asked, she took a deep breath and said yes.

Matt smiled at the look of disbelief on Tyson's face as he delivered the news. Arrogantly, he said, "I told you so."  
"I'm not out of the clear yet," Tyson said, sinking down onto the couch in the lounge as if he'd just sprinted a mile. "I still have the risk of getting my face kicked in."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Russell is not going to be kicking anyone's face in. Trust me, we know him better than you do. Right, Sawyer?"

Sawyer nodded. "Besides, if El Capitano really wanted to do you in, he'd punch your face in. He packs a powerful punch." The other two stared at him. "Well, don't act like it aint true!"

"…anyway…" Matt said as Tyson shook his head, looking not the least bit reassured. "If only we can get this guy to do the same." He nodded at DJ, who was on the seat next to him.

Focused on his video game, DJ did not realize he was being talked about until he noticed all three of the other boys staring at him. "What?"

"When are you going to ask Claire to homecoming?" Matt demanded. "It's like, less than a week away, bro."

"Did you just call me bro?" DJ said. "And I will. Tomorrow. Don't worry about it, it's going to happen."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Matt said slowly. "But… I think I'm almost more excited for the homecoming dance than for the homecoming game."

They stared.

"_Almost_!"

**I am aware that this chapter took me much longer to get out to you than it should have. And I cannot apologize enough for it. I know how frustrating it can be as a reader… NONETHELESS, I hope you enjoyed it, because I made it extra long for ya, and I think it's pretty action-packed too.**

**Creds go to MOTLEY CRUE and their song DON'T GO AWAY MAD (JUST GO AWAY) for the chapter title.**

**Review pleeeeeeease.**


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